Equinox
by JasonCulhane
Summary: Having lost everything including his sister and now on the run from the Volturi, Jason Culhane doesn't expect to find another family to take him in. Welcomed by the Cullens, he starts a new life in Forks but finds love also in an unexpected place. However, Aro tracks him down and loathes this unnatural union, moving to destroy what Jason loves again. This time, will Jason stop him?
1. Preface & Chapter 1: Afresh

**PREFACE**

This was supposed to be a special time, a time when a new family finds itself and grows. It is supposed to be a time for love, for joy, for looking to the future. Instead, because of these people, it has been filled with fear and loathing. They have tried to steal this precious time and for that, I shall make them _pay_!

**AFRESH**

If there's one thing I never thought I'd experience again after becoming a vampire, it's a first day at school. I guess I never believed, after all I'd already been through in my short time in this second life, that I would partake in anything normal ever again, at least normal by human standards. It seems that at least for some vampires, looking and acting just like everybody else, even though you're not, is a way of life. I guess I should already be familiar with this concept. Fiona, after all, lives a very human existence as a doctor and returns to a house every day after a long shift. That she runs the eighty miles to and from work every day and has blood bags in her fridge is beside the point. I know most vampires are a little more free-spirited, living with nothing but the clothes on their back with few possessions and feeding off of random people they encounter. I followed that existence for a time until I met Fiona and Dermot. They taught me that being a vampire didn't mean being an animal, a predator, that it didn't mean I'd lost my humanity, but I was torn from them. If what had transpired between myself and the Volturi had not occurred, I would have gladly stayed with them. With the exception of my late sister, they were more family than I'd ever known. However, I've learned the hard way that wanting definitely doesn't mean getting most of the time.

It was with that sad realisation that I decided to give yet another family a shot.

After staying on the run through most of Eurasia for many months and finally losing the Volturi, I decided that the Americas would be my next destination. I thought that if I could hide in the remotest of wildernesses, the Canadian Arctic, the Nevada Desert, or the Amazon Rainforest, I would lose Aro and his evil coven forever, and Fiona and Dermot would remain safe. The fact that there was an ocean between me and them brought me additional comfort for some reason. As I came down through the Canadian Rockies into the US with all my options laid out before me, I decided that the Amazon would be my home for the foreseeable future. I would never be found in that nearly boundless jungle, there were millions of potential hiding places and just as many animals to feed upon. It seemed perfect and as I imagined losing myself in the endless green, I was content with my fate.

It was then that the unexpected occurred.

I encountered vampires. I sensed them coming at me from all sides and among them was a beast I could not identify. Had they found me? Had they been following me the whole time? How misguided I was to think that I could ever lose them, the foremost coven among all vampire-kind. However, when they made their appearance, I did not see the enemy I feared. Sure, my instincts told me they were competition for the bear I'd just killed, but my better judgement told me they were not hostile. It wasn't because I believed that being vampires that they wouldn't show any interest in the bear, that they'd be more interested in the local townsfolk, but because they shared my peculiar eye colour. Those golden eyes told me they were animal feeders like myself. I was a little put-out, thinking I'd been the first to discover this particular alternative lifestyle, but it was certainly reassuring. I was rather stunned to find what I presumed to be an overgrown wolf in their company and the fact that they could speak with it and have it respond really put me off balance right then. Yet, despite that, I wholeheartedly accepted their leader's invitation to stay. Taking a chance with them appealed a lot more to me than spending an indefinite time trudging through the jungle alone, feeding on monkeys and capybaras.

Right from the get-go, I knew who to befriend and who to avoid. I was greeted quite warmly by one named Alice and almost as much so by a big hulking male named Emmett. Their leader, Carlisle, was genial and polite so he also put me at ease. On our way back to their home, I was introduced to the other three who had kept their distance. Another male named Jasper was also polite but in a stiff, formal sort of way, and he seemed very wary. The other male's name was Edward. He, too, was civil, but very guarded and didn't engage me in conversation after our initial introduction. Rosalie was the beautiful female with the flowing blonde hair and long legs which I had noted with much appreciation. She, however, did not appreciate my ogling one little bit and had to be introduced by Carlisle. She gave me a steely-eyed glare and ran off ahead of the group. I suddenly feared residing in the same house as Rosalie, thoughts of my legs being torn off when I least expected it being the primary reason. When I discovered a few minutes later that she was Emmett's mate, I shrank away from him in fear of reprisal. He just laughed, though, and complimented me on my good taste. Nevertheless, I still felt a little mortified, and I think that Emmett's good-humoured response made me feel worse on some level.

I didn't see the wolf again. I listened out for its footfalls but only heard those of several humans in the direction that it went. To be honest, I wasn't totally sure what I'd heard. For humans, they were still moving at a fairly brisk pace, and somehow I doubted that this remote area sported any world-class athletes.

It wasn't long before we came upon an unpaved road encroached upon by the surrounding forest. I saw tyre tracks running along it and wondered how anyone could get a car up this narrow, muddy pass. It twisted and turned through the woods for a good few miles which we covered quickly. Finally, the forest thinned out to reveal a meadow that looked somewhat manicured and thoughts of a massive garden began to bloom in my mind. The great cedars in the surrounding woods still shaded the whole clearing, right up to the house which stood among them. The house was three stories tall, painted white but not a stark white, just a gentle coat on the walls. It was rectangular and well-proportioned and gave a sense of great age. It could very well have been more than a century old, the doors and windows which fit seamlessly into the structure definitely spoke to that. This place was definitely a lot more stately than Fiona's little cottage back home, but I guess there were a lot more residents to accommodate.

I felt the blackness stretching out to investigate my new surroundings.

Tendrils winded out from my mind, felt the shape of the clearing, the house, and the forest out for several hundred yards. The meadow was indeed a garden but more like a lawn and a perfectly trimmed one at that. I discovered that it continued down beyond the shade of the cedars to meet a wide river behind the house. I did not pry too much within the house, but I did sense the presence of others within it besides Rosalie. I noted that one of them had a heartbeat, one that was not quite human but was held within a human form. I was finding many mysteries, and I was sure that answers wouldn't be immediately forthcoming. That fact left me a little peeved. After I retracted the tendrils of blackness, I noticed Edward staring at me wide-eyed with a sort of wild look on his face. His eyes flitted back and forth to Carlisle and he, too, looked at me gravely. It was bizarre, like something was passing between them. I suppose Carlisle wasn't exaggerating when he said there were talented vampires in his coven. That peaked my curiosity once again and the blackness unfurled from the place in my mind where it resides without me even thinking about it. I saw Edward's face fill with renewed apprehension, and I reeled the blackness in, looking down at the ground. It was better than meeting the stares that ranged from warily speculative to almost fearful.

We eventually made our way up to the porch and the front door. Despite what had transpired moments ago, obviously they'd sensed something about my ability, Carlisle opened the door for me and ushered me in. The outside of the house did not prepare me for the inside décor. The main room was very open and airy with the furniture, carpeting and walls all in shades of white. The ceiling, too, was white and the effect was to give this room a sort of peaceful serenity. The south-facing wall had been entirely replaced with glass and it gave a stunning view of the back lawn running down towards that river I'd sensed earlier. The west side of the room featured a massive spiralling staircase that I thought was a nice touch and to my left, there was an amazing grand piano upon its own raised platform. All in all, I felt great calm in this room and a great deal of my anxiousness flowed out of me. It was in that moment that I met Esme. She walked first to Carlisle and wrapped her arm around his waist, and he reflexively put his arm around her shoulders. She sported caramel-coloured locks that fell neatly around her heart-shaped face. She was slender and just as beautiful as the other women but her figure was more rounded than the angular physiques of Alice and Rosalie. He introduced me. "Jason, I'd like you to meet my wife, Esme."

She said, "It is very nice to finally be meeting you."

"Thank you and you, too, I take it Alice has already filled you in."

"Indeed, new arrivals tend to excite her."

Alice threw a wink at me and nodded her head happily. Edward still had that expression on him like he was passing messages among the group. Esme caught his eye for a moment, and she gave him a look of admonishment, which left him exasperated. He even sighed. I grew uncomfortable once more until Esme smiled at me and said, "Would you like to see your room?"

"My room?"

"Well if you'll be staying with us you should of course have your own space."

"I feel like I'm really imposing."

"Nonsense, you'll have Edward's old room. He rarely uses it anymore, and all his belongings are at the cottage he shares with his mate."

"Oh, Alice, are you and Edward…?"

Alice put on an expression of consideration and said, "Hmm, what a concept. So what do you think, Edward? Are we a pair?"

Edward replied, "Alice, please."

"I understand. You wish to discuss this in secret where our official significant others can't hear. Shall we pin down a time and place?"

Emmett added, nudging his brother, "Geez, Edward, I didn't think you had it in you, having two ladies on the go at the same time. I admire you're stamina, especially in regards Alice."

Alice put on an offended expression and said, "Now what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Now, now, Alice, don't be so crude. I was only referring to your vigorous and spontaneous nature. Your mind is so in the gutters."

Jasper even chimed in. "Edward, might I have reason to be concerned?"

Edward grew increasingly grouchy after that exchange, one which everyone else found quite amusing, though Carlisle and Esme seemed slightly discomfited by the innuendos flying around. I noted as well that Edward's distaste sky-rocketed shortly after Esme announced that I would be taking up residence in his room. I think that struck a chord.

Esme escorted me upstairs and showed me around. The stairs were a beauty with its honey-coloured wood panelling and exquisitely smooth railing. She pointed out Carlisle's office, Emmett and Rosalie's room, Jasper and Alice's room. She led me to the end of the hall and pushed open the door. What greeted me was far more impressive than I had expected. There was a wide luxurious leather sofa to my left and shelving took up the whole wall to my right. It was empty now but it seemed to be the kind of shelving you could store endless books and CDs upon. What got my attention the most was the view. There was a meandering river set in the vast, pristine forest with the mountains in rear but seemingly very close. I was mesmerised by that view for what seemed like an eternity. It had probably been only a few minutes in reality but it was just that breath-taking. I suppose it's hard to appreciate the beauty of a place when you're passing through on the run. I noted the whole south-facing wall was glass just like the room below. I wondered idly whether the whole south side of the house was glass and, of course, the blackness jumped ahead and found out for me. Tendrils seeped into the structure of the building and confirmed my speculation. I retracted it immediately with a jump when I heard Edward from the corridor. "Bella, we discussed this."

"No, you told me, which I didn't appreciate, mind you. We'll have words about that later."

"At least do that other thing which I asked."

"Oh, fine."

Their argument, despite its apparent seriousness, had a playful note to it. Bella entered the room and stood beside Esme. She was stunningly beautiful with straight, dark hair, a slim and well-proportioned frame, and she moved with such an easy grace that seemed to surprise even her. She wore a simple white dress that hung so perfectly. All the others had been dressed more casually in t-shirts, blouses and jeans. I noticed Edward was a little overdressed as well, and I wondered had I interrupted something, giving Edward even more reason to dislike me. Bella's voice was like a soft bell sound and she said every word without fault. "Hello, Jason, I'm Bella, Edward's wife. Alice has been very excited about your arrival as have we all."

"Thank you, it's very nice to meet you."

"How do you like the room?"

"It's amazing, but I feel like an invader."

"Nonsense, Edward and I hardly every use it anymore. It might as well go to someone new."

"Thank you, I promise not to be a messy houseguest."

Esme replied, "Oh thank goodness, I absolutely abhor untidiness. Now, if you need any clothes or shoes, we have a tonne of them in storage. I think you're about Edward's size so his old stuff should fit you." Edward grumbled quite audibly. Esme sighed, turned towards the door, and said, "Do grow up, Edward. It's not like any of it is of use to you."

"I may wish to wear them at some point."

"Oh you mean the stuff you bought that still has labels on them for the past decade? Do be reasonable."

Bella added, "And why are you lurking out there in the corridor? Come in here."

"I'm sorry, Jason, may I have permission to enter?"

Esme made a very indignant sound and said, "Now that is quite enough. Have at least some common courtesy, Edward. You're bordering on childishness."

While this was all going on, I had sensed what at first felt like another presence in the room. The blackness reached out in the form of tendrils once more and began to systematically sweep the whole space. I scanned over Esme and Edward with some haste, not wishing to be too invasive. However, when I tried to reach out to Bella, the blackness was deflected. I sensed a barrier that was totally impermeable, solid and perfectly smooth. Even solid rock faces have microscopic fissures that the blackness can penetrate. It reminded me a little of what Sophia could do, but I felt that this barrier was infinitely more powerful, totally unassailable. Yes, this was something entirely different, and it was somewhat novel to feel something totally opaque to the blackness. So without thinking, I decided to apply a bit more pressure. I hardened one tendril and pressed against the barrier that surrounded Bella. It caved inwards slightly but otherwise the force I was applying had little effect. Bella, though, seemed to be aware of what I was doing. Edward caught something passing between us as we exchanged looks of surprise. However, before I could say a word, Edward had, in a lightning move, interposed himself between myself and his wife. He was right up in my face glowering at me with a faintly animalistic expression of rage. My instinct to defend myself forced me to respond in kind. He growled and said, "Don't ever do that again."

I did not respond but retracted the blackness back into its recess. He stormed away urging Bella to follow him. She did so reluctantly but looked back apologetically and with wonder in her eyes. I looked to Esme at that point and said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset anyone."

"That is perfectly all right. I'll bring you some of those clothes now. The ones you're wearing seem a little worse for wear." I hadn't even noticed the dirt and rips and all the twigs that had got snagged in my clothes. I felt slightly embarrassed by my state of attire, thinking I looked like a wretched vagabond. She continued, "I'll also bring you some towels if you wish to use the shower. Is there anything else I can get you?"

"No, thank you, you've already been so kind."

"It's my pleasure. I'll be back shortly."

And so, I was alone, standing in front of that serene view and wondering how I had managed to create such a tumult in my first hour here.

After showering and changing into fresh clothes, I spent the night just resting on the sofa, not that I needed it, but it felt good to do absolutely nothing after all my travels. I was not disturbed for the night and indeed, even by morning, the house seemed very quiet. Eventually the appeal of inactivity began to wane. My mind stopped endlessly cycling through everything I'd experienced and, more importantly, everything I'd _sensed _the previous day. My encounter with Bella especially peaked my interest, but there was little that constant replay could tell me about it. I grew restless, bored, and when thoughts of my past, of Chloe, started to surface, I grew increasingly agitated. I paced considerably, trying desperately to shake those morbid thoughts that I knew would pull me down into the deepest depths of despair. I was totally unprepared for this onslaught of emotion. Between my confrontation with the Volturi, exacting my revenge upon Sophia, and the months of running and evasion, I had not given myself much time to grieve. I eventually curled up on the sofa and began to weep to myself as quietly as I could.

It started to pour outside, sheets of rain beating against the glass. I must have been crying for half the day. I felt emotionally drained, weak, I just couldn't bear to relive all that horror. More than that, I didn't want to think about how much I'd utterly failed my sister. It crept in regardless. Thoughts of Jane ringing her neck, burning her to nothing, my overwhelming grief-fuelled rage, her being taken from me in the first place, being made into a vampire, made to kill, that she had to witness all those deaths that she carried out with her own hands, all the lives horribly ended as vampires, also. Even when she was still human, losing our family, our home and me when I became a vampire and had to leave, one thing after another which all came back to me. This was all my doing and I would suffer for as long as I lived for it, and that could be a very, _very_ long time. The rain continued to slap remorselessly against the window, and the clouds were depressingly dark grey. Nature seemed indifferent to my suffering. Perhaps these people were, too. I had been alone for coming up on forty-eight hours with only a few of the Cullens coming and going. The house remained vacant and painfully silent the majority of the time, even to my ears.

I couldn't take it anymore.

I was just as alone here as I was out there and at least running gave me something to think about other than my miserable past and my ceaseless remorse. I'd probably ruffled too many feathers anyways. What had transpired between me and Bella stopped just short of a violation and was probably what they were all off discussing. It seemed a foregone conclusion what decision they would come to. They would ask me to move on because I was too dangerous to have around because of my ability. My past history with the Volturi probably wouldn't win me any votes either. I certainly wasn't going to wait for them to come and tell me that, though, to very apologetically tell me to get lost. So I decided I would pre-empt that rejection and make my way south as I'd originally planned. It was just at that moment as I got to my feet that Carlisle appeared in my doorway. Casually, he asked, "Leaving already?"

"Mr. Cullen, I…"

"Please, call me Carlisle, I've never really enjoyed being addressed as "mister"."

"Carlisle, I'm sorry, I've encroached upon your territory and your home and I've caused nothing but tension and argument. I think it's best that I move on."

"If you believe that then no one here will stop you, but know that none of us see you as an interloper or a nuisance as you seem to think."

"Edward and Rosalie would disagree, and I think the others are just too polite to side with them."

"Are you suggesting my son and daughter are ill-mannered?"

"What? Oh God, no! That's not what I meant…" _Dear God, Jason, can you do anything right? Shut up, just shut up!_

"Relax, Jason, I was joking, and I know my children, they aren't always angelic or indeed courteous."

"Okay but still, what happened with Bella…"

"That was a misunderstanding, one which has been corrected. It is clear that curiosity got the better of you, and Edward is fiercely protective of his wife. He may not treat you with any geniality any time soon, but he at least concedes that you were not trying to harm Bella."

"Perhaps, but Carlisle, my ability can be dangerous. It's so powerful that sometimes it surprises me with what it can do. Sometimes I can't control what it does."

"You speak of it as if it were separate from you?"

"In some ways, it is."

"Hmm, Jason, would you follow me to my office?"

"O-kay…"

I followed him down the hall to his office. It was quite a grand affair I thought, very ornate, very scholarly like an old library or a college dean's office. The walls were literally lined top to bottom with all manner of books. Where I could see the wall, it was panelled with dark wood closely matching the mahogany desk. Behind it was a large leather chair which had been turned towards the tall west-facing windows. I had walked passed him, gazing around like a stupefied idiot. His voice gave me a bit of a jump. "It is this that I brought you to see."

I turned to look upon the wall just to the left of the doorway. This one was not obscured by bookshelves but an array of portraits. One seemed to be of a medieval town, another was a dreary, almost forbidding meadow in autumn colours with a peak in the background. "Look at this one," he said, "Tell me what you see."

The painting he indicated was very broad, almost twice the width of the door beside it. It featured a chaotic scene of robed figures hanging off pillars and over balconies. It appeared to depict Greek mythology or perhaps something biblical. On the uppermost marble balcony stood four figures looking down upon the assorted mayhem below with an eerie sort of calm as though this was what they wanted the world to be. The painting was exquisite, very colourful, very vivid. Three of the men standing foremost caught my attention, one white-haired, the other two black-haired, Caius, Marcus, and Aro, the leaders of the Volturi. Something snapped within me on seeing those faces, and I felt the blackness ready itself to destroy this heinous image. The last figure, though, almost standing to the side, almost winded me. This golden-haired man looked almost exactly like Carlisle, it _was_ Carlisle. The blackness seared the inside of my head, craving some outlet with which to expel my rage. Was Carlisle one of them? Had I been tricked? Was this the extent of Aro's deviousness, his desire to attain me and my gift, that he would set this most welcoming of traps? A family of vampires willing to take me in, I'd been so blind. Perhaps, I thought, I should act immediately to make good my escape before the others returned. I was just about to focus the blackness when Carlisle spoke again. "This was painted during my time in Italy, a time I spent with the Volturi. It was merely a few decades but it taught me quite a bit. I learned about Aro's lust for power, and abilities were at the centre of his desires. They're actually quite civilised and refined, but they view humans as they might view cattle, as nothing more than a food source. I did not share that belief and so I moved on and came to the New World."

"Aro let you go?"

"I was a curiosity to him. My feeding habits were peculiar and fascinating to Aro and the others. He tried to "cure" me of what he perceived to be a perversion of the natural course. We debated on other issues of a purely intellectual and philosophical nature also and that certainly kept him entertained but, ultimately, I was of no particular value. I have no abilities that would cause him to want to possess me, so I couldn't really contribute to his never-ending quest for power. To be honest, I consider myself fortunate not to be gifted in that way. I think you can understand why."

"He would have you even now."

"Indeed, and I think you know he has means of persuasion. In time, I might even have thought I wanted to be there."

"What did you do after that?"

"That is a long story that I'm sure I can regale you with at some other time. For now, the point I'm trying to make is that we are not the Volturi."

"I never thought you were."

"Not consciously but you fear involvement with them and us for the same reason, your ability. The difference is you know Aro will try to control you, use you, and in our case, you fear that we will fear you and eventually, cast you out. I will not lie to you, there are those among my family who think that's what's best for us. I overruled them because I think you deserve a chance at happiness, at being part of a family. Do you really wish to wander alone forever?"

"How do you know this about me?"

"Don't forget, Jason, we have abilities, too, and we have learned much about you already. You may even come to see that we've discovered things about you that you don't even fully understand."

"How?"

"My children's abilities can give them a much broader perspective than most. So, I put it to you, Jason, what is your decision? When we met, I made an invitation, one which I didn't make lightly. I do believe that we have much in common and much to learn from one another. We are a real family, Jason, one with memories, loyalty, camaraderie, and most importantly, love. I want you to be a part of that. We all do, even those of us who claim otherwise."

It was a rather rosy invitation, but I could sense the sincerity in it and after all I'd been through, a rosy picture was very inviting. So, for the second time, I said yes to staying with the Cullens.

It was at least a month before I really settled in. My room was sort of bare and Esme insisted that I come shopping with her in Seattle to find suitable knick-knacks to decorate it with. She insisted on shoving money into my hands and telling me to buy whatever I wanted to stock up the empty shelves in my room. Most sixteen year olds would certainly not object to that, but it just added to my sense of imposition. Finally, more so to please Esme than myself, I did buy a good selection of CDs, books, a lamp, a few assorted ornaments, an artsy poster or two, an MP3 player, an _Ifone_, a _Samsung_ tablet, and so on, so on. I was just deliberating over a fairly decent sound system when I did a double-take at how many bags I was carrying. I found a bench near the centre of the mall and started adding up all my receipts. My total came to two thousand and fifty-five dollars and ten cents. I was flabbergasted. I'd never spent even close to that amount of money in one go, probably not in my whole life. Why had I been so blasé about spending today when I'd been tighter than a sailor's knot up until a few hours previous? It was then I spotted Alice accompanied by Jasper coming out of a nearby clothes shop with a trolley load of men's attire. I said, "I didn't know you two were here."

"Esme called us about two hours ago, said you were being difficult."

"Difficult? I was being polite."

"When it comes to shopping, it amounts to the same thing. Now I took the liberty of selecting a few things for you…"

"A _few_?"

"Well I wasn't certain if you were a trend follower or if you had your own style, so I just got one of everything."

"How practical of you."

"Thank you." She hopped about a pace closer to me, looked intently at my bags, and said, "So what you get?"

"Loads, I don't know how I let myself spend this much money."

"Oh, that was Jasper's doing."

"Sorry, I don't get that."

"Well, when Esme called saying you wouldn't buy anything, we drove up and followed you around the mall. Every time you saw something you liked, Jasper could sense it, but then your pesky "politeness" kicked in, so he used his ability to loosen you up."

I narrowed my eyes at him and said, "You amplified my greed?"

"Not per se, I simply toned down your reserve."

I made a disgusted sound whilst Jasper failed to hold in a grin and Alice rooted through my bags. After she spent a few minutes rummaging, she said, "Well, I suppose this will do for starters. I was hoping you'd go a bit wilder, but I guess your hesitant streak is stronger than either of us expected. Jasper, we'll have to work him harder next time."

"Next time?" I asked.

"Of course, did you not see the size of your room? This won't even fill a tenth of those shelves. Now, come with me."

"Why? Where are you taking me?"

"Back to the clothes store, we need to make sure all of these fit. I could only roughly guess your size, you don't have very typical proportions."

"_All_ of them?"

"Yes, oh, Jasper, there's a tailor here somewhere, isn't there? We need to get him measured for a few suits and a tux perhaps."

At that point, self-preservation kicked in and I got up to run, but I had no sooner had the thought than I completely lost my willpower and suddenly felt all mellow and compliant. My memories of the rest of that evening involved such tedium that it made me want to cry, yet I floated around after Alice like I'd been dosed with tranquilisers, courtesy of Jasper who trailed behind.

After I'd recovered from the ordeal at the mall, I found time to organise my new belongings. I decided to work from the window back with books, CDs and all my gadgets nearest the glass and clothes on the next set of shelves. Alice had been right, I'd barely taken up any of the shelving, in fact, my haul looked rather meagre sitting in the corner with the rest just empty space. However, I intended to spend the next few decades filling them up, not Alice's plan of doing it in the next few shopping trips.

I had thrown the lamp on a locker beside the sofa with a few of those ornaments scattered around. The first was an exquisitely crafted wolf with a pale coat that I placed in front of the window. I'd found a silver photo frame with a bear in its upper left-hand corner. The frame itself had been cast into that shape so it just flowed effortlessly into the form of the bear. I planned one day to have a picture of my sister to put there. I had no idea what had happened to our house or our belongings. I really hoped that a picture of her still existed, that our few albums had survived and been passed to our distant relatives. I keenly remembered her, of course, but only as a vampire. My first recollections when I turned were unfocussed and all I could think of was blood, even Chloe's. Thinking of her during her change was just too painful and after that, she was still Chloe but not the innocent girl I sought to protect always, too much had happened to her at that point. I wanted to see a picture of her human and happy. For the time being, though, a simple message had to suffice. I went into a tattoo parlour at the mall and pretended that I wanted something done up. The tattooist handed me the message on white card, and I said I'd have to think about it. I inserted the card into the frame, which read in beautiful script, "_Chloebear, forever in my heart_". I would never forget. I would never let even my foggy human memories slip away. They were all I had for the time being.

Exactly four weeks after my arrival, I was informed that I'd have to attend Fork's High School. "It's just how we play things." Carlisle informed me. "We move around from time to time but when we come to a new place, I find work as a doctor, Esme takes care of whatever home we happen to be in, and all the children attend school as if they were the ages they appear to be."

"But Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett look like they could be over twenty."

"Technically, yes, they were turned at around that age, but we vampires can pass for younger. Generally, they start as seniors, Edward and Alice start a year below, and when Bella starts school again, she'll probably enter at the same level as Edward. We mix it up a lot. We don't like moving around so if we can get them all started at the same year, we can stay in a place for a decade or more, pretending once they've finished school that they're off to college. With you, however, the dynamic has changed."

"How so?"

"Well, you were only sixteen when you turned, and now you're a vampire we could possibly pass you off for a year or two younger. It'll be the first time we've had a freshman in the family. It means we can stay in Forks longer and anywhere else we choose to go."

I felt subtly used at that point, but I went along with everything. Carlisle decided that since everyone in town already knew them and that all the others had already graduated that they'd say I was his nephew, having moved here after his estranged sister had suffered a fatal accident, a car crash to be exact. I'd heard more original cover stories, but something told me the people here weren't the suspicious kind.

The day came and I actually found myself feeling nervous. School, to me, equalled hell. I had no positive memories of school in Galway, and my memories of Kilkee National School were vague and I couldn't draw comfort from them. Plus, this was an American school, it was a different grade system, a different curriculum, and different people, too. I was totally unprepared. I couldn't go, I just couldn't. It was then I started towards a full blown panic attack. When I hadn't come down from my room at the said time, Esme came knocking. I answered hesitantly and peeked out. She had an expression of motherly concern on her face that was somewhat comforting. Esme reminded me a lot of Fiona. She took care of everything practical and was there for everyone she cared about. It was impossible not to let her in, to trust her. She asked, "Are you okay, Jason? It's nearly time for you to be leaving."

"I'm not sure I can."

"Whatever do you mean?"

"I'll be honest, the idea of going back to school terrifies me. Even now that I'm a vampire, I don't want to subject myself to that again."

"May I come in?"

I stepped aside, opening the door wider, and she sat on the sofa. She invited me to sit beside her, and I did. "What troubles you, Jason?" She asked.

"This whole thing, going head first into the unknown, it's too much. I have few happy memories of being at school, and I don't mean I found the work hard or boring, I was bullied constantly, I never made friends, not since my best friend died."

"Tell me about him."

"Am, well, his name was Fionn. We were childhood friends in my first school. That was in my hometown of Kilkee but when my parent's moved my sister and me, we drifted apart a bit. We stayed in contact but it wasn't the same. It was when I finished in my new school that I ran away back to Kilkee to see him and my other friends. I found our usual playground in ruins. I thought he'd moved on and that hurt. It was in that trip that he died when I discovered my ability. He died because of me. I later learned from his mother that he'd never forgotten me, that he missed me at least as much as I had him. I used to see him in my head when I became a vampire. I think it's just how my ability communicates."

"He sounds like he was a very good friend."

"He was more like a brother. I never told him that, though."

"You're very mature for your age, Jason. That was a very adult sentiment, but I believe that he knew and felt the same. What you have to realise is that not every place and not every person is the same. You expect school to be a prison in which you are trapped with the worst humanity has to offer. It isn't necessarily like that, though. I think you'll find Forks surprisingly like your old home and, if you open yourself up to people just a bit, you might discover there are more people like Fionn out there than you think."

"I should at least find out, right?"

"I think Fionn would want you to."

"I suppose no one can really hurt me anymore, at least not physically, and I always have a home to come back to."

"And a family, you're part of that now, no matter what, we will be here."

"Thank you."

She placed a hand on my shoulder fondly and said, "Now, are you ready for your elder cousin to drop you off?"

"Well, can I be dropped off up the street from the school, just for my first day?"

Esme laughed warmly and replied, "I'm sure your driver will have no problem with that idea."

I followed her downstairs. I'd donned faded dark jeans, a white t-shirt, and a leather jacket with a hood. I also had some sturdy boots and I realised I'd worn proper attire. It was miserable outside, pouring from the heavens with a good gusty wind blowing. I quickly zipped up the jacket and put my hood up as I stepped outside. Esme waved me off before quickly shutting the door. My vampire strength allowed me to resist the strong wind and keep my path straight as I stepped off the porch. I sort of cheated, though. I focussed the blackness and formed a sort of bubble around me, which deflected both the wind and rain. I opened the door of the shiny Volvo pulled up outside the house and got in hurriedly but completely dry. It was when I felt eyes boring into me that the blackness reacted in a not so passive way, seeking out the threat. In the driver's seat was Edward, all hostile and gritting his teeth. His revulsion for me was clearly accentuated when he spoke. "Let's just get this over with, all right?"

Suffice it to say that that was one of the more uncomfortable car rides I've ever had. Thankfully, it was over quite quickly for Edward drives like someone trying to escape the cops in a car chase, no, not good enough, it was more like he was trying to outrun an oncoming tsunami. He didn't slow down either when we reached the town, so I didn't see much of it other than a blur of houses and businesses before he came to an abrupt stop just before a sign that said Forks High School. Being a vampire, I was at no risk of serious injury if we crashed, but some lingering human sense of self-preservation left me taken aback by Edward's race-car-like driving. I needed a second or two to collect myself but he wasn't having any of it. "Well, you wanted to be dropped off just down from the school. Here we are."

I was about to make a clever retort about how saying "get out" would have saved him a lot of breath but thought better of it. Instead, I smiled politely and said, "Indeed I did. Thank you, Edward, for the lift."

I, too, could have spared myself the effort and said "go fuck yourself" but I noted much to my satisfaction that my even response infuriated him and so, I got out with a very satisfied grin, one I ensured he saw. I think after that he bent the steering wheel out of shape. Still, I let myself have a little petty fun and used the blackness to let the air out of all his tyres. It was a slow leak but given how he drives, he wouldn't be making it home. I somehow doubted that he'd have four spares in that little Volvo.

After he'd sped off, I took a deep breath and walked slowly towards the school. To be honest, had I not been dropped off here, I would never have guessed that this _was_ the school. Of course, the sign would have eventually given it away, but it just looked like a collection of brick houses. I kind of liked it, though. It had none of the markings of the institution like my old school in Galway. It reminded me a great deal of my primary school in Kilkee with its less formal, more inviting appearance. Though I had automatically drawn up the blackness to defend myself from the onslaught of the truly atrocious weather, I suspected it might alarm people if raindrops were stopping short of me and my hair and clothes weren't rippling with the wind. So, reluctantly, I let down my bubble and allowed the vertical sheets of rain to drench me. I tried my best to maintain a human pace as I sprinted for the nearest building, which had a small sign over the door reading "Front Office". I hurried inside and wiped my feet on the mat. The lights were bright and the room was a tad overheated. There were some chairs immediately before me, a waiting area I presumed, and a long counter split the room in half with desks directly behind it. I noted that there wasn't an obsessive tendency towards neatness there. A loud, ticking clock and a smattering of awards and notices cluttered the walls. There were houseplants everywhere, and flyers were stuck randomly to the front of the main counter. A red-haired woman manned the foremost desk and I walked over to the counter with some apprehension. She saw me approach and dropped her glasses slightly with a look of appraisal. She seemed to know who I might be, maybe assuming from my appearance that I was related to the Cullens. That was definitely what I was aiming for. She said, "May I help you, young man?"

"Yeah, I'm Jason Culhane." I decided to keep my own second name since my cover story was that I was Carlisle's sister's son.

As soon as I said my name, confirmation of her deductions literally lit up her face and she said, "Just one moment." She rooted through a stack of documents and lost a few off the top to the floor. She continued to rummage until she found a few stapled pages and handed them to me saying, "This is your schedule and a map of the school. Bear with me a minute while I go over this with you."

She explained fairly thoroughly my classes and what were the best routes to take to get to them. When she was finished, she smiled and wished me well on my first day. She had been very friendly but I'd been warned about the level of gossiping in town and this woman was one of the prime gossipers. It was nothing I was unaccustomed to, in small towns, everybody's business is everybody else's business and secrets are practically non-existent. As I perused my schedule, I began to calm somewhat. The classes weren't noticeably different from what I'd had back home. I had English, mathematics, biology, chemistry, Spanish, government. There were going to be some differences I knew but I didn't let it freak me out like before. I ran around the school to Building 3 to go to my first class, English. It wasn't hard to spot with the big number three on the wall. I started to realise that I stood out. I was the only one not wearing a hood or a hat and my skin was paler than even the very fair-skinned natives. I got a good number of stares and my head started to dip more and more the closer I got to the door. I fell into a queue outside the small classroom. I noticed everyone putting up their coats on hooks just inside the door and I followed suit. My head was a bit damp but the jacket had kept the wet off my top. I had a slip that I had to get each of the teachers to sign. Mr Mason was my English teacher, a tall, balding man, and it made me nervous standing at the front of the class with him and all eyes on me.

_Please, please don't make me introduce myself_.

Luckily, he just signed off my slip and sent me to a desk. I was dead-centre in the middle of the classroom, it was impossible not to catch someone looking at me. It was the start of the year so the class was largely introductory. The teacher droned on about the course content until the bell rang. I hurriedly made my way to my next class, Spanish, without having anyone approach me. I didn't know if I looked standoffish or if my appearance was off-putting but the other students seemed content to observe from afar. Mrs Goff was my Spanish teacher and she seemed less interested in me than Mr Mason had been. She just assigned me a seat near the front which had the benefit of sparing me the stares of the whole class. I hadn't studied this language before and it was refreshing compared to the typical choices of French or German in most Irish schools. As the class progressed, I could feel eyes on my back the whole time, but I knew that the students on either side of me were staring, too. I glanced to my left once and I saw a thin guy with glasses who looked vaguely Asian. He averted his eyes immediately when I turned. I then looked to my right and did a double-take. It was the same guy on that side, well, no, obviously they just looked identical, they were twins. The one on the right spoke to me as class ended. "Hi, you're the new guy, right?"

"Yes but aren't we all new?"

"You know what I mean, new to town. Cool accent."

"Thanks, I'm Irish."

"Really cool! I'm Joshua, that's my brother, Isaac. You might have noticed we're twins."

I smiled weakly and said, "It's nice to meet you both."

"You, too, where's your next class?"

"Biology, Building 4."

"Excellent, we're there, too. We can walk over together."

"Sure, better get going then."

"Right, don't wanna start off on the wrong foot with these teachers."

Joshua was definitely the dominant twin. He was outgoing, talkative to put it mildly, and always had an opinion. Isaac was far more reserved, more curious, though, especially about me, but he was too quiet to ask unless prompted by his brother. They were an interesting pair and Joshua was a bit eccentric and loud, drawing even more attention my way, but I felt better walking around in a group rather than alone. I was relieved when I arrived after my biology teacher, Mr. Banner, signed my slip that the three front desks were free. I thought the twins might take the opportunity to sit together but they left me the middle seat. Biology was also largely introductory as Mr. Banner went over all the different areas we'd be covering this year. After that, we made our way to the cafeteria building for lunch. The three of us took a table not far from the windows, and I noticed with some amusement that it might well be the table that the Cullens used to sit at when they attended the school. We weren't left sitting alone for long. Two girls who were also freshmen came to our table. Their names were Jenny and Madelyn. Jenny looked very bookish with thick glasses and curly black hair tied back severely with rather plain features. Madelyn was somewhat more dolled up with perfectly straight brown hair, some subtle makeup, and a silver locket hanging from her neck. Jenny was very covered wearing a cardigan over a t-shirt with blue jeans whereas Madelyn wore a sleeveless top with an above the knee denim skirt. Joshua introduced them to me and they took their seats. Each of them had a tray of food except for me with my bottle of water. I found the intense odours of some of the cooked food such as battered fish, beef burgers, and greasy chips rather unpleasant but tried not to show it. They all eyed me suspiciously, as I pretended to sip my water. Inevitably, the question was asked and Carlisle had me well prepared to answer. It was Madelyn, who seemed a bit inquisitive to put it nicely. "So like what's up with the low-cal diet?"

"Sorry?"

"Just a bottle of water? That's all you're going to have?"

"I can't eat regular food."

Joshua asked, "Oh really, why?"

"I have serious allergies."

"Such as?" Madelyn inquired with a sceptical tone.

"I'm gluten-intolerant, lactose-intolerant, and I'm deathly allergic to citrus, nuts, and a few other things. There's very little I can safely eat. I have to have all my food prepared at home."

"Well, can't you just bring a packed lunch?"

"Nope, too much risk of contamination."

Joshua, somewhat confused, asked, "But couldn't that happen at your house, too?"

"We have air-recycling and water purification systems in the house to keep stuff out, and we don't bring any normal food products into the house. We wouldn't anyways, we all have food allergies, it's a family thing."

"So are you safe here?"

"As long as I don't eat or drink anything I'm all right."

Madelyn raised her eyebrows and stared at her fish very intently with obvious incredulity. The others seemed to accept what I'd told them and did their best to keep their trays as far from me as possible.

After lunch, we had Gym which I feared above all else. I hated it in my old schools, even in Kilkee, as I was eternally clumsy and hated sports in general anyways. Coach Clapp was the instructor and I was immediately supplied with a uniform, as was everyone else. Coach Clapp was big into volleyball, a most inane sport in my opinion, but told us we wouldn't be playing today. With that rather dreary introduction to our PE schedule, my first day ended. I made my way out of school with my newfound friends towards the main road. Would you believe that the sun had come out when generally in autumn Forks is supposed to be shrouded by monsoonal rain and battered by Pacific storms. Don't get me wrong, it was still mostly overcast, which was lucky because my skin turning into a lightshow might have startled some of the students. Nevertheless, I kept to the shade as much as possible. I wondered who'd be picking me up. I knew it wouldn't be Edward after this morning. Snapping me out of my speculations, Joshua asked, "So, have you any plans this weekend, Jason?"

"I'll have to get back to you, but I don't think so."

"Well, if you're free and not having a reaction or going into anaphylactic shock, you wanna come to the beach with us?"

The others smiled and Madelyn did so in a very satisfied kind of way. To be honest, I thought his sense of humour needed some work but he was a friend, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and gave him a playful shove. He went a little further than I intended, though. I'd have to work on that. He said, "So what you say?"

"I'll say yes for the moment, but don't hold me to it."

"Okay, so it's a definite, right?"

I laughed as convincingly as I could. "Yeah, okay, where is it?"

"It's about fifteen miles from Forks. Don't worry, my mom will pick us all up and bring us out. So we'll see you then."

"Later."

I waved them all goodbye as they made their way to their respective rides. I looked around for mine but couldn't sense the presence of any vampires about. I suppose if I had to make my own way back it wouldn't take long. I could just walk to the edge of town and run full throttle, cutting across the woods. It was then that a patrol car pulled up in front of me. A middle-aged police officer with a moustache stuck his head out the driver's side window and said, "Are you Jason Culhane?"

"Yes, is there a problem officer?"

"Well, first off you can call me Charlie seeing as we're family and secondly I have a warrant for your arrest."

"I don't understand."

"Vandalism, my son-in-law is convinced you slashed his tyres."

So this was Bella's father. He seemed like a very imposing man with a no-nonsense attitude so I wasn't sure if he was joking or not. He continued, "Don't worry, there's insufficient evidence. Get in, I'll drive you."

I did so with some apprehension, even though I had nothing to fear. He pulled out and drove towards the Cullen's house at a more sedate and legal pace than Edward had. I asked out of curiosity, "So what did Edward tell you?"

"Well, I'd only stopped by for a visit while I was on my rounds. Edward was storming around the place with Bella and his parents trying to calm him down. He wasn't very coherent but when I approached, I got him to cool off and explain what had happened. All his tyres went flat on the main highway. He swerved and smacked into a tree. I mean the car is totalled, I don't know how he walked away from that without a scratch. Anyways, he tried to convince me you two weren't getting along and that you were responsible."

"What did you say?"

"I said I'd give a look at the car as a favour. His parents wanted to resolve it themselves which I was more than happy to allow, but Edward was pretty pissed. Anyways, I looked at the tyres and it took me ages to find the punctures. They were tiny so unless you stabbed them with a knitting needle, I don't see how this could be anything but a freak accident."

"I can promise you I didn't do anything untoward."

"Well good, I've enough troublesome kids to be dealing with."

He dropped me off at the porch and said he had to be off again but to give the Cullens his best. I wasn't sure what reception I'd receive. What I had done was a childish act and was exactly what I told myself I would avoid for fear of rejection. Nevertheless, what was done was done so I squared my shoulders and walked in to face whatever awaited me.

They were all there.

Edward stared at me venomously from the sofa as Bella tried to comfort him, but she seemed to be holding him back somewhat, too. Jasper and Emmett stood on either side of me with their arms folded and Rosalie, Alice, Esme, and Carlisle stood in front of me not far from the sofa. I was a little surprised by this show of force, but what did I expect? If Edward had been human, what I'd done could very well have killed him. However, when I examined their expressions more carefully I noticed that most of them were resisting the urge to smile and failing. Only Rosalie and Edward could maintain any semblance of seriousness. Even Bella was trying to hide her face from her husband. I wasn't sure what to do until Alice, beaming as ever, came right up to me, and said with mock admonishment while waving a finger at me, "Jason, you've been a very, _very_ bad boy…but that was inspired."

They all couldn't contain themselves anymore and burst out in laughter. Edward threw his hands up and left. Rosalie was not far behind.

About twenty minutes later when all the guffawing and falling around had ended, every one of them crowded around me eager for me to tell them about my first day. I started with a fairly innocuous recount of my classes, the teachers, who I'd met, and so forth. Bella seemed particularly excited that I'd made friends with Joshua and Isaac, the Weber twins, who were her friend Angela's brothers. It was all going smoothly, especially when I described in detail my car journey with Edward and exactly what I'd done to his car, until I mentioned the invitation. I hadn't made anything of it, just some friends getting together on the beach, but their expressions all changed when I told them about it. Carlisle asked, "Jason, where exactly is this beach that they want you to go to?"

"He didn't give me any details other than it's fifteen miles from Forks."

"Oh dear." Bella said softly.

"What is it?"

Bella looked passed me to Carlisle and said, "Do you think it's time we told him? He's already seen Jacob anyway."

"Who?"

Carlisle responded, "He can't grant Jason access. That's down to the Uley Pack."

"Are you two talking about that huge wolf in the clearing?"

"Yes, Jason. It is hard to explain, you'd have to see it for yourself. Well Bella, you probably know what's best here. What do you think?"

She considered for a moment and looked doubtful. I honestly didn't understand what was going on but funnily enough, my main concern was whether or not I was allowed to go hang out with my friends. Bella stood and said, "I'll go to Jacob. Maybe between us, we can figure something out."

I said, "Thanks, Bella, I still don't get it, though. Why is this up to him?"

That's when Emmett jumped in. "The beach you're talking about is called La Push, man. We don't go there. That's wolf territory."


	2. Chapter 2: Imprint

**IMPRINT**

Our discussion after my first day back at school had left me a little uneasy about my upcoming outing, so much so that when Forks and the Olympic Peninsula at large experienced an uncommon spell of good weather, I was kind of hoping it would last to the weekend. Already, the intermittent sunny spells had kept me out of school for the last two days of my first week. I spent that time growing acquainted with Jacob and his pack. Jacob was an imposing individual, very tall and looking as though he should lay off on the protein bars. I was somewhat aware of his nature. The fact that when I'd first seen him he'd been a wolf led me to the most obvious conclusion; that werewolves existed as well as vampires. Carlisle quickly corrected me on that point, however, telling me that the Children of the Moon as they were known were solitary creatures who could only change at the full moon. They were also nearly extinct thanks to the Volturi and Caius in particular who had an unreasoning fear of them because he almost lost a fight with one. Jacob's kind were true shapeshifters, able to change at will and what truly separated them from werewolves was that they operated in packs. It was fascinating but Bella informed me I hadn't seen anything yet.

On the Friday, we made our way down to the river behind the house and followed it for only a kilometre before we came upon a few wood cabins. Well, cabin was probably an inadequate term, they seemed to be homes with a very rustic quality about them. Five of them stretched along the top of a rise that the river circled round, flowing off to the northwest. As we approached, a young man came down towards us. He was a little gangly but still bore that muscled look that his people all seemed to have. He seemed very happy to see Bella and they hugged briefly. He said, "Bella, seriously, you need to call round more."

"I know but you know how your sister feels about us coming here. She wants this to be the one place free of vampire stink. Besides, we've been a little busy lately."

"Well, lucky for you, she's out right now." He looked to me and offered a hand. "You must be Jason, the newbie Cullen."

"Yeah, I suppose I am." I shook his hand.

"I'm Seth, nice to meet you. Listen, Bella, I know you just got here, but I have to go."

"What? And here's you making me feel bad about not visiting."

"I know but it's just a family thing. I'll try to be back before you head off. Jacob should be here shortly. See you round, you, too, Jason."

He ran towards the woods and in a split-second metamorphosis, he was a wolf loping through the forest. Even my vampire eyes found that hard to catch, but it was indeed spectacular all the same. The blackness was roused. It wanted to seek Seth out and truly understand the nature of this transformation. Yet I knew that would probably be quite evasive so I reeled it in. It almost resisted, but Bella distracted my train of thought long enough for the idea to slip away. "So are you ready to meet the pack leader?"

"Sure. Can I ask you something, Bella?"

"Of course."

"Why are you being so nice to me? Obviously your husband isn't too fond of me and the feeling is mutual I have to admit."

"I am my own person, you know, I don't have to dislike you just because he does."

"But I sense how close you two are, you must at least be influenced by his feelings."

"What about us do you sense?"

"It's nothing to do with my ability. It's just I had someone who meant that much to me once."

"Oh, your sister, right?"

"How did you know that?"

"Okay, Edward will kill me if he finds out I told you so this stays between us."

"Alright."

"Edward has the ability to read people's thoughts. It's how we know so much about you."

"I'll be honest, I kinda feel a little violated. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Edward wanted to see how powerful your ability is, to see if you can detect his violations as you call them. In reality, though, I think he wants to keep you in the dark because he perceives his ability as his advantage over you."

I was about to say something there but considering who I was talking to, I held my tongue. I was sure Bella liked me, but I didn't want to test her patience. I was curious as to what they'd learned. I asked, "So what have you found out about me?"

"Not as much as you think. Edward isn't exactly around you all the time so what he's gleaned is limited. He learned about your sister Chloe and some of the other vampires you've encountered. You have to understand, though, Edward can only hear what you're thinking of in a given moment. We only know that much because you think of your sister so much, and of your friends."

That was a relief. Although, I thought the Cullens were honourable and true to their word, I wasn't really ready to tell them about Fiona and Dermot. It was bad enough that my reminiscing had revealed their existence, but I couldn't let them know yet just what Fiona could do, at least not until I knew them better. I'd have to watch my thoughts, especially when Edward was around. I contemplated asking from how far Edward could read peoples' minds but that seemed a little too obvious. We were at the door of the nearest cabin when Jacob finally made an appearance. He came running up behind us in wolf form but chose to change back behind a nearby tree. I could quickly ascertain why as he donned a pair of shorts. Clearly, you couldn't bring your clothes with you when you went wolf. If I were still human, I might have found him very intimidating and even now, he made me look quite small. I didn't allow confidence in my vampiric abilities to blind my better judgement, though. I still had no idea just what these shapeshifters were capable of. He went to Bella and grabbed her up in a bear hug. I wondered if she were human, would she have escaped that embrace uninjured. He said, "Bella, Bella, Bella, we talked about you being scarce."

"Give me a break. I already got a lecture from Seth."

"Well, he's right, you know. We all miss you, and you know Renesmee doesn't like being away from you."

"Who?" I asked.

"Am…"

Bella interjected, "She's a member of Jacob's pack, a close friend."

I didn't buy it. Something passed between them after he said it, and Jacob seemed to be kicking himself internally. I remembered when I first approached the Cullens' house that I heard an unusual heartbeat, very fast and strong. I'd passed it off as a wild animal or maybe one of the wolves but when Edward seemed to sense the blackness and grew agitated, the heartbeat disappeared. Whatever it was would have had to move pretty fast to get out of range before I arrived. Jacob, seeming to want to rectify his mistake, tried to side-track me. "So, this is the new bloodsucker."

Bella elbowed him and said, "I told you about using that word."

"Okay, okay, by the way, Bella, your elbows are pretty hard so can we keep the playful poundings to a minimum?"

"Oh you poor thing, well, it'll teach you not to pick fights with girls. God knows you wouldn't win."

"Ouch! One-nil to you."

"Ugh! Please! I've lost track of my score at this point. It's easier for you because you only have to remember nil."

"Okay, I surrender. Stop lashing me with your tongue."

"That's faintly perverted, Jacob. Anyways, this is Jason, Jason, Jacob."

He offered a hand and said, "You must be really young, although you could be a million years old for all I know."

"That would make me older than the human race. I'm sixteen, thank you. Well, I was when I was changed."

"And Irish, you must be a hit at Fork's high school. The girls there don't have much else to look at."

"I haven't noticed much of that. I'm getting the "avoid the new guy" treatment from most."

Bella said, "He's made friend's with Angela Weber's brothers, though, and two girls also."

Jacob said, "Well, man, I think you're getting off to a better start than you think."

I ducked away with embarrassment. It was then that I noticed another strange exchange. Jacob seemed to hear something, and Bella seemed disturbed. They were very tense and silent for a few seconds, a very uncomfortable situation for me. Bella was giving Jacob a look of utmost frustration, and he looked to be kicking himself some more. It was then that he made an unexpected suggestion. "Jason, how about you and me go for a run?"

"A run?"

"Yeah, through the woods, let me see what you've got. Plus, you had something to ask. Bella's already told me what it is, but the person you have to convince is Sam."

Bella looked shocked but appreciative. I said, "Are you sure about this? I've gotten the impression that Sam's pack aren't big fans of vampires?"

"Just as long as you don't enter their territory without permission, you'll be fine. So are you ready?"

"I guess."

He looked distant for a moment and then he smirked, saying, "He'll meet us about three miles downriver. Race ya."

He went wolf but forgot his shorts. He stopped momentarily to consider that, but then he was off. His pace was rapid, and he'd gotten a good head start but with newborn speed on my side, I was sure I could close the distance. I turned to Bella and said, "Are you coming with us?"

"No, I'll meet you later. I've just got something to take care of."

"Okay." I was about to turn away when I just thought how irritating this was and said, "You know what, I could be polite and ignore all this but screw it! I know there's something going on. I mean, seriously, you haven't been very subtle about it."

Her expression suddenly changed. She replied in a less than affable tone, "Leave it alone, Jason. I'm warning you."

I didn't like that one bit and returned her implied threat with a look of intense reproof. I said, "You know what, I've trusted you lot this far, despite the risks involved. You could at least show me the same courtesy."

She actually snorted in a very derisive way and said, "You really have no idea what you're talking about. If you did, you'd understand, and _I_ am not ready for you to understand just yet. I may seem all friendly and welcoming, but I, too, have to consider the risks involved. Now, I don't know what exactly it is, but you haven't been entirely honest with us either and until you see fit to trust us fully, I will keep certain things from you. This is far more important than courtesy, Jason. Now, please leave."

I heard footfalls in the distance. Two of them were definitely wolves but the third treaded a lot more lightly and only had two legs. I might have been mistaken but the wolves actually seemed to be chasing this third person. Bella obviously could hear them, too. She looked at me and said vehemently, "Go, now!"

I knew there was little she could do to make me go. My ability aside, my newborn strength meant I could easily withstand anything she could throw at me. Still, I sensed something more here than simply keeping a secret, and I doubted the Cullens would appreciate me getting into a tussle with Bella. So, with narrowed eyes, I turned and ran in the general direction Jacob had gone. He had covered a lot of ground, but it took me a minute to catch up. When I appeared at his side, he managed to contort his wolfish visage into a look of surprise. I smirked and overtook him. He growled lowly clearly not appreciating that. I could hear another set of canine footfalls coming at us straight ahead. I guessed correctly when three miles was up because in a clearing near the river bank, I was greeted by a massive black wolf. He stood very tall and even bared some teeth when I took a step towards him. Jacob arrived not a moment too soon and interceded. The black wolf backed down a bit, but his eyes drifted back to me warily. Something seemed to pass between them, and Jacob indicated me for some reason and then himself. The black wolf almost smiled and nodded towards his side. There were two pairs of shorts strapped to his rear. Jacob laughed as much as was possible in his wolf form with his tongue lolling out. The two of them retreated behind some trees to change and returned a few seconds later. Sam was nearly as imposing as Jacob and facing both of them together left me a little uneasy. This whole situation, though, had me totally off kilter. I was supposed to be meeting with just Jacob just so he could check me out and vouch for me when he discussed the issue with Sam. I never anticipated actually meeting the man. That plus my little exchange with Bella left me very on edge. I hoped I wasn't showing it too much, for I suspected any sign of hostility from me would have Sam on the attack at the drop of a hat. They both walked up to me, but Sam didn't come as close. Sam put out a hand to stop Jacob and said, "Are you sure about this? I really don't feel safe being in human form in its presence."

I really loved that, especially being referred to as "it". We were not off to a great start but I let that one pass. I said, "It's okay. I don't bite. I don't really have a taste for wolves, I prefer bears."

Ill-timed and inappropriate flashed in big red letters in my mind as soon as I'd said it. I guess I didn't really have my defensiveness on as tight a leash as I'd thought. It was done, though, so I just stood my ground, and I didn't try to backtrack. He looked somewhat peeved but not enraged as I thought he'd be. He said to Jacob, "It's got a smart mouth. Perhaps it needs to be thought some manners."

"I think the pronoun you're looking for is "he", and I'd like to see you try."

Nervous bravado, it was either going to work or backfire. Jacob looked like he was going to have a panic attack and was reading himself to get between us. Sam, though, just laughed. "You're ballsy, I'll give you that, and that accent just cracks me up. I think I might actually like you on some level."

"What's wrong with my accent? Have you never met an Irish person before?"

"No, as a matter of fact, we see a lot of rainbows in Forks but no leprechauns."

I growled but not in a serious way. I said, "I really don't like stereotypes and stupid, _stupid_ references."

Jacob replied, "Well, you and Sam shouldn't spend too much time together so."

Sam said, "Ouch, man. What did I ever do to deserve that?"

"Don't get me started. Well, we're here now, Jason. Say your piece."

I considered what I was going to say very carefully. This was going a million times better than I would have anticipated, so I thought perhaps just coming out and saying it would be the best choice. "I want your permission to go to La Push tomorrow."

He looked bemused for a moment and said, "That's it?"

"Well, it'll probably be for most of the day, and I'll be with humans. I promise not to come too close to the reservation if I can help it."

"All right, that's okay."

"Really? Just like that?"

"Well, was there something else 'cause it seems all good to me?"

"I thought you didn't allow vampires on your land."

"Not human feeders, if I see red eyes coming anywhere near my home, they definitely won't be leaving. You're lucky yourself. When my pack first saw you, we were gearing up to rip you to pieces. If we hadn't seen you chasing down deer, you probably wouldn't be here right now."

Jacob interjected, "But what about the Cullens? They haven't gone anywhere on our land without expressed permission?"

"I never said that was still in effect. I think since the leaders of the bloodsuckers forced us all to gang up and be friends, I can be sure enough that the Cullens won't eat my people. That's not an open invitation for them to come to the reservation and crash all our parties, but I really don't care if they take a shortcut through our lands for instance. As for La Push, just consider it open to all."

"Even when you're cliff diving?"

"Well, we can do up a schedule if you want."

I said, "Okay, thank you, I promise not to eat any people and let you know in advance when I'm going there so I don't spoil your extreme sports sessions."

"Fair enough, I suppose we should shake on it."

"I guess."

I held out a hand. He took it for a brief moment and then withdrew it and wiped it on his shorts. He said, "Ick, touching you guys is gross like putting your hand on a corpse. Crap!"

"What?" Jacob asked.

"These are my favourite shorts. They bloody smell like vampire now."

I said, putting on my thickest, most stereotypical Irish accent, "Ah, sure, put them on for a wash, they'll be grand."

He narrowed his eyes at me with chagrin, then turned, and started muttering under his breath. Of course, my enhanced hearing allowed me to pick out certain phrases like "cheeky Irish git".

So that was my daytrip arranged fully. When I returned to the house that evening, I was still a little sullen about my spat with Bella. I wasn't in the best of moods with any of them at that stage because I was certain they were keeping things from me. Bella had a point in that I wasn't being a one hundred percent truthful either, but the lives of people I cared about depended upon my silence, at least for the time being. Bella wasn't there when I returned and, spitefully, I thought that perhaps she was going to take a leaf out of Edward's book from here on out. I wasn't sure, though, if I would have preferred she had been there so I could have given her a piece of my mind.

I moved through the house like an angry storm cloud and everyone made way for me. I felt a little guilty when I saw Esme. She had an infinite ability to care for those around her and obviously, keeping things from me was not something she enjoyed. Alice and Emmett, too, were a little glum on seeing me in my dark mood. All of them tried to engage me in some pointless conversation, but I wasn't having any of it. I didn't know why I was this mad. I didn't know if I even had a right to be. The Cullens were good people, and I knew whatever secrets they were protecting were so for a very good reason. Yet I could not reconcile that with my growing bitterness. Was I not a good person? Could I not be trusted? I supposed _I_ could be. My ability, however, was a big unknown in that equation. I couldn't even guarantee my control over it, let alone tell them its scope. Still, I was obdurate, not allowing any attempt at conciliation. I realised too late that my irritation was enough like anger to feed the blackness. Slowly but surely it built within me until I exploded at a most inopportune time. I was busying myself going through the mountains of old clothes and books that they'd all gathered over the decades to find anything I might want to use. Some of the classic books were of interest, but I had no intention of wearing Edward's old flannel shirts. Riled up as I was, I was going through them rather carelessly. It was of course then with his perfect timing that Emmett threw a baseball at my head. I was just sitting there, minding my own business, when all of a sudden a ball hit me in the head. It didn't hurt, but it was so unimaginably infuriating at that moment that it was near impossible to describe. Emmett sat there on the sofa, smirking roguishly, and said, "Hey, grumpy, how about you blow off some steam with a few rounds of the national pastime?"

"No, thank you."

He threw it again. My eyes widened, my body froze, as I stared directly ahead with barely contained apoplexy. He said, "Come on now, don't be a spoilsport. The only thing for these hormones is to work 'em off. Ask any of the ladies."

That set my teeth on edge. I was so hoping that Rosalie, Alice and Esme would rip him limb from limb for that comment. They were all standing around, though, wondering if and when they should step in. I said, "Emmett, do I look like a basket or a goal or an end zone?"

"No…"

"Then stop throwing balls at me."

Wham! He produced another baseball and hit me right between the eyes. There was a bit more deliberate force behind that one, which I certainly felt. He had another in hand as he said, "Come on, man, stop being such a grouch."

"Emmett, I'm warning you, stop."

"Or what?"

He flung this one with vampiric strength, but it did not reach me. I held it suspended right before my eyes as I gazed at it wrathfully. The blackness enveloping its surface like a coat of oil, I simultaneously crushed and incinerated it until all that remained was a small pile of fine ash. When my concentration finally broke, though, I found myself in the midst of a pall of smoke. It was too much to have just come from the baseball. Looking around, I could see the blackness had not limited itself to the ball. The clothes and books around me were all at least singed, but most were completely burned. The carpet was ruined, too. The others, including Emmett who had been nearest to me, had darted back to the furthest corners of the room.

This was it. I'd gone too far.

Before the air could clear, I'd run for the door as fast as my newborn speed could carry me. I think they were all too stunned to try and stop me, this being the first time they'd witnessed any real demonstration of my ability, but Alice and Emmett did pursue me. I was faster than them both, of course, but there wasn't enough of a gap between us for me to lose them. I had to break my trail somehow. I saw a chance to do so immediately. The river that ran behind the house was deeper here. Without hesitation, I dived in. I began swimming downstream into deeper waters, trying to stay as close to the riverbed as possible. The river was in flood and so was murky, making the swim arduous at best. My arms and legs kept catching on rotten branches. On the upside, the water was too muddy for Emmett or Alice to see me, and my scent trail would have disappeared at the riverbank. After submerging myself in the muck for twenty minutes or so, I cautiously surfaced in a more stagnant part of the river. I couldn't hear the others nearby, but that didn't mean anything. I'd swam about a mile downstream, close enough that the blackness could find them. I formed a dome in my head using only the sensory side of my ability and expanded it outward. I soon had a perimeter several miles in diameter and within it, I was omnipresent. I knew all, saw all, every blade of grass, every forest creature, every trickle of water dropping off every leaf. I, too, saw vampires, and the most relevant ones were looking in the wrong direction, upriver. I'd considered running through the shallower cascades to wipe out my scent, but I was pretty sure they would have heard me clambering over mini-waterfalls.

I swam to the bank and climbed, dripping wet from top to bottom with twigs and pondweed stuck on to me everywhere. I wasn't sure what to do just then. Was my transgression bad enough that they'd want me gone? I could have killed anyone near me with that little fiery display and all for a temper tantrum. I was considering just leaving. I had a good head start. At a hard run, I could make it into some wilderness further south where they could never hope to find me, if they bothered to look. The Cullens, however, were not the only people I'd be leaving behind. I'd made friends already, and a part of me didn't want to just disappear without explanation. I'm sure the Cullens would come up with some excuse tomorrow as to why I'd suddenly left. I doubted it would be good enough, though. I toyed with an idea forming in my head and decided why the hell not. I headed towards town first intersecting with the path up to the Cullens house and then following it to the main road. I knew where the twins' house was. They'd shown me after my last day of school before it got sunny. It was actually a good bit out of town on the road leading up to the Cullens house with a wide gap between it and the neighbouring houses. It looked a great deal cosier than the Cullens' mansion, but it reminded me of my home in Kilkee or Fiona's cottage. I stopped just short of their front door and gave a hesitant knock. I was terrified of this moment, so part of me wished that nobody was home. Isaac answered almost straight away and said, "Jason? You're calling late, aren't you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I don't mean to intrude."

"It's not a problem. I'm really bored actually, I was gonna call you or the girls to see if you were doin' anything."

"Why? Where's Joshua?"

"At the hospital."

"What? Is he okay?"

"He's fine. He got a little sick after we had chicken for dinner. Mom was horrified, thought she gave him food poisoning. She gets like that, being a hypochondriac and all."

I laughed a bit and said, "So he's grand really?"

"Oh without a doubt, doesn't mean he's not gonna milk this for all its worth, until tomorrow, of course, when he'll miraculously recover. You looking forward to it?"

"Ah, yeah about that…"

"Man, what happened to you? You're soaked."

I was surprised he'd only just noticed. I thought he was being polite in not mentioning it. "Oh yeah, I caught a shower on my way here."

"You walked?"

"Yeah, just wanted to get out, ah, family drama."

"Got ya, well I can give you some of my things, and we can throw your clothes in the dryer."

"Ah, well, possibly not, they're dirty, too."

"How'd you manage that?"

"I walked through the woods."

"You walked through the woods in a thundershower? You're nuts."

"Well, it was the kind of drama I had to run away from, fast."

"That bad, huh?"

"Yeap."

"Well, why don't you stay over? I can sort you out for kit tonight and tomorrow, and I'm sure my parents won't mind."

Isaac was just too kind-hearted for me to just drop a bomb and run. I accepted his invitation.

I arrived at nine and for two and a half hours, we discussed everything under the sun. Isaac was actually a very talkative person; he was just shy in groups. He quizzed me on home, everything about my life in Ireland, what the country was like, what were my thoughts on school here compared to there, and we laughed about how I'd pretty much exchanged one crappy climate for another. I had to do a certain amount of impromptu fabricating when telling him about my past. I was supposed to be Carlisle's nephew after all, but I also had to keep track of my lies in case I contradicted myself in future. Even my vampire mind found that taxing.

Close to midnight, Joshua arrived home with his parents. Isaac immediately pounced on them, ignoring his supposedly sick brother, and asked, no, begged them to let me stay the night. They were remarkably accommodating, in fact, they were very happy to be finally meeting the boy the twins wouldn't shut up about. That revelation was embarrassing for all concerned. Joshua was kicking himself just then because while he was excited to have me here, he had to keep pretending to be sick and so was sent off to bed whilst Isaac and I got to stay up till one playing chess and discussing tomorrow's outing. We were commanded to go to bed then despite Isaac's arguments. Their sofa was a fold-out so I "slept" there. As the night wore on, I went over what I was doing in my head and thought how crazy it was. After this weekend was over, it wasn't like I could stay in the Weber's house. I'd sooner or later have to face the Cullens or make the decision to leave. There was still time to consider that, though, so I just looked forward to the coming day.

Suddenly, Alice's voice was right in my ear. "Jason, Jason! We know you're in there."

I could sense their presence. I knew they were not in the house, though. I was so confused. "We're outside, you numbskull."

"How're you doing this?"

"Sssh! We're talking below the level of human hearing. Try doing the same unless you want to wake up the Webers."

I tried to modulate my voice lower, but I was unaccustomed to it. I remembered I did something similar before when I had to speak to Fiona whilst Chloe underwent the change, but that was face to face. I said, "Is this low enough?"

"It'll do. What the hell are you playing at?"

"I'm sorry, I can't apologise enough about the fire. I could have hurt someone…"

"Oh, quit your gibbering, I'm not talking about that. We understood the fire. You had a little episode and you lost control, but why did you run?"

"Because what you were afraid would happen, what I was afraid would happen, finally did. I'm too dangerous to have around. I'm just going to have to move on."

Emmett said, "Geez, he's a touch dramatic, isn't he?"

Alice replied, "Ahuh, Jason, cut the bull. If you really felt that way, you'd be nearly at the California border by now. You wouldn't have run straight to your friend's house. I find that very adorable by the way."

"Oh dear God…"

"And I don't like that you gave us the slip."

Emmett added, "Yeah, I mean that was kind of rude. It's good you didn't do a very good job, otherwise I'd be pretty pissed right now."

"What the hell do you mean?"

"Well, you only covered your trail while you were in the river. As soon as you left, it started to come back. We came across it on our way home actually."

"I thought the river muck would cover it."

"Sorry man, your body odour is way more potent than that."

Alice interjected, "You still haven't been honest about why you ran, and why you were so mad for that matter."

"Because…because I had an argument with Bella that riled me up, because I know you're hiding something, because you aren't trusting me! It's all those things, and I'm sorry if what I am seems frightening or threatening even, but I don't think I'll ever be able to change that."

"It's not just that, Jason. You're being very evasive about your past. Edward can sense that you're hiding something. The trust works both ways."

"I'm protecting people, Alice. People that I love and care about, people who are family to me."

"And we would never betray you, Jason."

"Maybe not intentionally, what if the Volturi return?"

"We're your family, too, Jason. Not one of us would breathe a word about what you tell us to them, even if it meant death."

"Aro doesn't need to torture you to find out what he wants to know."

"I can't promise anything really, Jason, but the secret we're protecting is just as important to us as yours is to you, most of all to Bella and Edward."

"Then I propose a deal."

"Okay…"

"Total honesty on both sides, nothing more, nothing less, and then I will be safe to be around, I can guarantee it."

"But I thought you said you couldn't guarantee anything."

"As soon as I feel safe and calm, and there's nothing to rile me up, my ability fades into the background. My curiosity might rouse its sensory side from time to time, and I am not averse to using my ability for my own convenience, but I won't have anymore outbursts like at the house."

"You're sure?"

"Positive."

"…Then, we'll propose your deal to the others. Stay here okay, and go on your trip tomorrow. I'll need until then to bully everyone into submission."

"Okay, thank you, Alice."

"Thank _you_ for trusting us."

Emmett added, "I'm gonna get you back, man for sending me on a wild goose chase around the woods. It made me look stupid."

I smiled as I said, "It's not that difficult, Emmett."

He growled but in a way that let me know that I'd pay for that comment, and then they were gone. I laid back down to resume my pretend sleep. Perhaps this wasn't as big a disaster as I'd thought.

The night passed only slowly, as one would expect when you don't sleep. When I was human, I often had a sleepless night but even then, you're still physically tired. When you don't feel even the tiniest bit of weariness, it is all the more tedious. When I heard Mrs. Weber stir and wander down stairs at around nine in the morning, I made a concerted effort to appear to be in the land of nod. I considered fake snores, but I didn't want to push my luck. After making herself a cup of coffee so strong that it made my nose wrinkle, she trotted upstairs and began the process of waking the twins. It was not a pretty affair let me assure you. Several fruitless calls to get up were followed by loud shouts. When that didn't work, she actually went to the bathroom, got a cup of water, and started flicking some of it in their faces. I could hear each of them grumble and mutter as drops of water went splat on their faces. Even that was met with stout resistance. In the end, it took an air horn to rouse them from their slumber. I think one of them, probably Joshua, even fell out of the bed. She came down a few minutes later with the twins in tow both with sleepy heads and with messy hair. She said, "All right you two sleeping beauties, get you're breakfasts. I want to be leaving this house no later than ten. Oh, Jason, you're awake. I'm so sorry, I didn't even think. Was it the air horn?"

I wasn't even aware of when exactly I'd sat up. It probably was the air horn because I could feel that residual tension from my vampiric instincts taking control. I calmed myself in case that defensive reflex roused the blackness. I replied, "No, Mrs. Weber, I'm okay. I understand it was necessary."

"Well, I'm glad someone does. Look at them; they're like the walking dead. If you think that's bad, you should see what I have to do on a school morning. They get it from their father by the way, not me. I've always been an early bird. In order to wake my husband this early of a weekend morning would probably require a defibrillator and CPR."

I couldn't help but laugh. Mrs. Weber was definitely a lively character to say the least. The twins were quite sullen, and they didn't noticeably improve after their soppy cereal. Their mother offered me breakfast, but I had to explain my "allergies" again. Joshua made a rather cheeky comment at that point that earned him a steely-eyed glare from his mother. He piped down after that and made an effort to be cheerful. I'd never known two people whom so epitomise the phrase "I'm not a morning person". Once we were in the car and had collected Madelyn and Jenny, we were nearly halfway there before the twins showed any signs of returning fully to the land of the living, and we were practically there before any bit of excitement set in.

The road to La Push wound through scenic forests of towering evergreens and over a wide river the twins helpfully told me was named the Quillayute River. Still, the roadside scenery did not prepare me for the spectacular vista that greeted me at First Beach. The Pacific Ocean was the first thing I saw and though I'd lived much of my life by the Atlantic Ocean, I could somehow tell that this body of water was so much vaster. Slate grey water heaved inexorably against the rocky shore with the strong ocean breeze whipping up white caps and waves coiling in upon themselves before crashing on the beach. Several offshore islands rose out of the waves, massive pinnacles of rock with intrepid firs clinging precariously to their almost sheer rock faces. The beach itself had little sand, only a thin strip at the waterline, which gave way to a wide stretch of countless rounded rocks of every colour imaginable from terracotta to pale green. Driftwood littered the tide line, piled up at the rear of the beach just before the trees, and here and there was the bleached bones of animals. Seagulls and pelicans glided on the ocean winds and every so often one would swoop down to the water, perhaps having spied an unwary fish. Overhead, the clouds were solid grey but moving swiftly inland with the strong wind. Despite this, it had been dry all morning, and I hoped against hope that it would remain that way.

We made our way down to the beach, the others stepping carefully around rocks and branches which I did without even thinking. I noticed that in several places the rocks had been arranged into circles with blackened wood and ashes in the middle. Fires, I thought, would be a really good idea in this dismal weather, unless of course it rained. Joshua, who was fully awake by then, was very excited to show me how cool driftwood fires were. I couldn't say that I'd ever actually seen one. You occasionally find wood on Irish beaches but rarely enough to make a fire with, possibly because of the lack of any extensive forests around the shores of my homeland. The beaches back home are sandy, rocky, or occasionally a mixture, but Kilkee and Galway Bay and the few other beaches I'd visited just weren't as striking as First Beach. Perhaps I was being biased, though, someone who hadn't seen miles of sandy coast before might find it impressive, but that was just what I was used to. After piling some wood haphazardly into the fire circle, Joshua lit some of the more frayed and chipped sticks with a few matches. The fire caught but immediately I could see that it was more orangey than normal fires, and the flames were flicked through with blue, purple, and green. "It's the sea salts," Joshua explained, "Each salt burns a different colour."

I remembered a chemistry experiment I'd seen in school once based on the same principle. Depending upon whether the salt contained potassium, or copper, or whatever, it would burn a different colour when introduced to a Bunsen flame. I remembered that table salt burnt orange like the colour of streetlights because of the sodium in it. The girls were very excited, and Joshua seemed very impressed with himself. Isaac and I found it mildly interesting but coloured flames weren't exactly that spectacular, especially after the first few minutes.

The three of them chattered about it for what seemed like an eternity until Isaac suggested that we might trek along the beach and go see the tidal pools. Some of the beaches I'd been to had rock formations with hollows in them that retained water when the tide went out. I remember thinking they were like nature's aquarium. The girls didn't feel like walking any distance so they were out. Joshua wanted to go with us, but Jenny felt nervous alone on the beach so begged him to stay. To be honest, I didn't see what the fuss was about. We only had to walk up the beach a little, cut through some forest, and we were there, looking out upon another rocky shore. A tidal river ran through there, and the pools were scattered along its banks. I easily traversed the slippery rocks and jumped over gaps between them. At one stage, without thinking, I jumped clean across one of the ponds and landed perfectly upon a sloping, seaweed-covered rock face. Isaac was stunned. The pool was six or seven feet wide so I suppose it wasn't beyond belief that I could make it, but I think it was the effortless grace with which I leapt and landed that had him so astounded. I laughed it off and urged him on and mentally made a note to myself to be more careful in future. The pools were fascinating, filled with anemones waving in the current like alien flowers swaying in a slow-motion wind. Here and there, crustaceans sought whatever cover was available as we both peered into their private little world, and starfish sat motionless as small fish flitted around them.

After an hour of exploring the pools, Isaac grew hungry and worried that the others might not have left him any lunch. I, too, was a little peckish, as I had neglected to hunt with all the excitement of the week. The scents of all my friends were looming ever larger in my mind as my instincts told me that lunch was readily available. I'd grown good at keeping a cap on those urges, though, and my human side quickly drowned out my instincts when I pictured killing the only friends my age I'd had since leaving Kilkee for the first time. I could hear movement in the forest as we trekked back and wondered idly if there were some deer nearby and that perhaps I might slip away for a few minutes and satisfy my cravings. The footfalls were wrong, though. They were softer on the earth than the hooves of deer. A quick sweep with the blackness confirmed what I thought.

I was being watched.

I picked out several canine forms, all large and slinking around some few hundred yards back in the trees. Clearly, the two packs didn't trust me as much as they let on. I recognised the footfalls of Jacob and Seth, but there were two that were unfamiliar. I pretended not to notice, not that that was hard, the blackness was telling me everything I needed to know anyways. I supposed that as long as they kept their distance I didn't care if they wanted to keep me under surveillance. When we got back on the beach, however, I felt them coming uncomfortably close to the tree line. I also sensed human footfalls, meaning that they'd resumed human form. I swore to God that if they came out here and intimidated my friends, I'd give them a piece of my mind, literally.

We rejoined the group to find that Joshua had helped himself to some of Isaac's lunch while we were gone. Isaac frowned but said nothing otherwise and made do with the remaining granola bar and ham sandwich. I thought he was just a little too submissive to his twin and that Joshua took advantage of that. Joshua was loud and attention-seeking, but I think there was a little jealousy there. He always sought to make himself more noticeable than Isaac, for his brother didn't need to make so much effort at being smart or interesting. Isaac just didn't feel as obliged to tout his own horn as Joshua did. I still liked him, though. He was fun and if nothing else, I could always laugh internally at his silly competitive streak. Madelyn and Jenny wanted to go whale watching before we had to go, and I didn't object. I hadn't actually seen one for myself before. We'd gathered our things. Jenny knew a good vantage point where we'd be able to see most of the bay. We were just about to set out when Madelyn pointed behind us and said, "Look!"

She was pointing to a sheer cliff face overlooking the bay. At the very top, there was an opening in the trees and standing there was a woman. She was clearly of the Quileute tribe with her dark skin and shoulder-length black hair. I had to say that dressed as she was merely in tight-fitting shorts and a tank top, I found her quite attractive. She had an exotic, almost feral appeal that was mesmerising. Joshua patted me on the shoulder saying, "Yeah man, she's hot all right."

"Sorry…"

"Come on, man, you were like staring open-mouth, I'm surprised you didn't drool."

Jenny and Isaac looked a small bit uncomfortable, but Isaac's eyes were tending to wander, too. Madelyn was wholly unimpressed and, of course, she had to comment on it. "Ugh, you're all such boys, it's not like she's that good-looking, I mean seriously, she's wearing beige and khaki green, what a clash!"

Joshua replied, "I don't think it's what she's wearing as much as how _much_ she's wearing."

"Ugh! _Ugh_! Come on, Jenny, we'll go whale-watching ourselves, these sex pests are too interested in the birds."

Jenny replied, "Wait, is she stepping towards the edge?"

"Oh cool," Joshua exclaimed, "I've seen some of the Quileutes cliff dive before. Supposed to be a total rush, never tried it myself, though."

Isaac added, "I have."

Joshua looked shocked, completely taken off guard. He replied, "Ah, when?"

"When we first saw them doing it, you remember, last year, some of them asked if we wanted to try. You said it was too dangerous and reckless and stomped off. I took them up on it."

"You jumped? From up there?"

"Of course not, I only jumped from less than halfway up the cliff. It was still cool, though."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you'd tell mom."

"No, I wouldn't…"

"Yeah, you would, but don't worry, Joshua, I already told her like six months ago, so there's no need to immediately report this."

Joshua looked very put out and a little mortified. Isaac had just called him out big time, getting him for being a sissy about the cliff diving and also for being mommy's little informer. I tried to hide my amusement. I was happy to see Isaac stand up for himself. Just in that moment, the woman jumped, legs first, and disappeared beneath the waves. Something was off about the whole thing. Despite my admiration for the woman's physique, my expanded vampire mind allowed me to notice other things, things that the others could not see from this distance. Her expression was apprehensive but melancholy, and she moved as such, looking upon the water below with a mixture of fear and some vague determination. I could hear her breathing and heartbeat just about, also. It was heightened but not in the way of someone who was feeling an adrenalin rush. In fact, when I thought back, the other Quileutes all had heart rates above average compared to normal humans so by their standards, this woman was calm, too calm. When she did not surface after thirty seconds, everyone grew concerned. I could hear the two packs change form and race frantically to the cliff top. I reached out with the blackness. Tendrils dived through the waves and searched the seabed at the base of the cliff. I sensed the rush of air bubbles as waves rolled overhead, carrying with them the detritus of the ocean and human civilisation. More rounded rocks littered the bay floor along with the rotting trunks of long dead trees and more bones. They were overrun by seaweed and it concealed a myriad of life, starfishes, crabs, anemones, eels, and a wide variety of fish.

Not far from the cliffs, though, I sensed coming death.

The woman had allowed the current to carry her out to sea with the tide. She hung in the water, limbs spread, eyes closed, making no effort to keep water out of her lungs. She was already unconscious and despite what I'd seen of the shapeshifters, I knew she couldn't survive drowning much longer than a normal person. Her fellow pack members were in the water without me having noticed their arrival at the cliff top. They were swimming around the cliff base, but they were searching in the wrong place. She was already well back from the cliff out in the deeper waters of the bay. I had no choice. Jacob and his pack mates wouldn't figure it out in time. I shed my jacket, kicked off my boots, and ran for the water's edge. I think the others tried to stop me, but I deliberately ran fast enough that they couldn't. My vampire strength allowed me to cut through the water quickly until it was at my chest and then, I went under. I still had the tendrils extended but swimming in the murk of the bay was taking a lot of concentration, and the woman kept drifting away out of reach. I supposed I could have hooked her and pulled her back like a fish on a line, but I was wary of using the physical aspect of the blackness just on the off chance that it would do more harm than good. Instead, I came up with a novel idea that made me very impressed with myself. I sent the blackness out ahead of me in bursts and waited for some of it to return like sonar. I hadn't used it like this before, but it seemed suited to this environment. I sent out a few waves directly ahead and sure enough, I got a return that seemed large enough to be coming from a person. I swam hard in that direction, sending out periodic bursts to make sure I was still on course.

All of a sudden, her face appeared out of the dark waters.

I grabbed hold of her and threw her arm around my shoulder. I kicked my legs to bring us to the surface. Her heart was still beating, slowly but surely. _Man, these shapeshifters are strong!_

She hadn't swallowed all that much seawater either. She coughed and spluttered as we broke the surface. At this point, we'd actually gone all the way around the headland separating First Beach from where the tidal pools were. The woman continued to choke up water and then slipped into a stupor of semi-consciousness. I struggled against the current induced by the tidal river but managed to fight against it and make the shore. I carried her in my arms and laid her gently on the shingle of the beach. Her breathing was becoming more even, and she was starting to stir when her fellow shapeshifters arrived on the scene. They were making their way over when the woman opened her eyes and looked at me. I met her gaze and sort of half-smiled not knowing what to expect from her. She raised her head, propping herself up on her elbows. She froze. She took one breath and did not exhale for what seemed like an eternity. Her dark eyes locked on me with a tranquil dreaminess, and she seemed to be at peace. Despite her seeming state of serenity, I had to admit I was a little embarrassed by the intensity of that moment. Jacob was first to reach us, but he stopped dead in his tracks. He seemed speechless, his eyes switching between us. He only said, "Impossible."

The moment then passed. The woman who looked at me then was not at peace. She was anything but tranquil. Her eyes conveyed revulsion, anger, despair, loathing. She struggled to her feet. I tried to help, but she shoved me away with considerable force. I remained standing, though, as she ran to the water's edge about twelve feet from me. I thought for a second she was going to try and jump back in. She caught my eyes again, though, and that dreamy look returned for a few brief seconds. Then she started to laugh hysterically followed by tears that rapidly deteriorated into weeping and screaming. She pulled at locks of her hair with her hands and closed her eyes, mumbling to herself as if wishing something away. She opened them once more, saw me, and shouted, "_No!_ Please, no!"

In tears, she ran up the beach and changed form, a beautiful and graceful grey wolf. She howled as though she were in agonising pain, and I heard those piercing cries of despair even as the distance grew between us. I was gobsmacked. I had no idea what to make of this. I turned to Jacob, looking at him imploringly to explain. He just shook his head, looking bewildered like the others. He said, "It…it just can't be."

That was as much as I got out of any of them. They acted as though their whole worldview had turned on its head. Then Jacob became alert once more and led the others away in the general direction the woman had gone without another word to me. I made my way back to my friends who were waiting frantically. I told them that the woman was fine and that it had just been a stunt. I was dripping wet and tried to act like I was cold for their benefit. Mrs. Weber picked us up about half an hour later by which time I'd changed out of my sodden clothes into fresh ones I'd brought just in case. I'd taken off my t-shirt first without realising that Jenny and Madelyn were standing there gawking at me. It was at that point I retreated to the tree line to avoid Jenny's quickly snatched but embarrassed looks and Madelyn's more suggestive ones. We got back to Forks in the early evening, and Alice was waiting to pick me up in a very nice yellow sports car. I couldn't tell the make but it looked fast. I got into the plush interior with its luxurious seats. Alice looked at me appraisingly and said, "You approve?"

"You bet your ass I approve. This car is class on so many levels."

"Hmm, at least we can agree on your taste in cars. When you get your licence, I'll consider getting you one for your birthday, but only if you're nice."

"I'll be an angel for the next decade if I can have one of these. Wait, no, this car must be a few hundred grand, it's too much."

"Please, this car barely made a dent in the family finances."

"That's not the point. Is what Jasper did to me permanent because I've never been so carefree about spending money?"

"I'll never tell. So, on to marginally more important matters, we had a family meeting last night."

"And?"

"We're going to introduce you to someone, someone very special and important to us all."

"Who is it?"

"I'll leave that to Bella and Edward."

Suddenly, Alice went stiff, just as she was about to pull away. She stared into space before a concerned look came across her face. She said, "Jason, is something up? Are you planning something with the shapeshifters?"

"No, why?"

She ignored that. "Has anything happened in regards them today?"

"Well, yeah, actually, one of the Quileute women tried to commit suicide today at First Beach, at least that's what I think. The others tried to save her, but they were swimming around in the wrong spot. I stepped in and brought her ashore."

"Are you positive that's all?

"Well, when she came to on the beach, she was acting all woozy and happy to see me but then she snapped out of it and had a full-blown panic attack. She ran off into the woods then followed by her pack."

"If that's what has happened, I can't make sense of this."

"What, Alice? Tell me."

"I can't see your future anymore, Jason."

We drove home in silence. Alice was perplexed, and I was perturbed. Alice reassured me that the fact that she couldn't see my future did not mean I was going to die or that something bad would happen. She said it could mean a lot of things but most likely it would have something to do with some future association I'd have with the shapeshifters, for she could never see their futures. That comforted me very little. I could see then how easy it could be to become dependent on Alice's ability but like all special powers, hers had its drawbacks. It was just very comforting to know that Alice would see the decisions our enemies would make and we would make and know how they would play out, at least potentially. That I had become a black hole in her mind's eye was disturbing to say the least.

When we arrived back at the house, she tried to distract me with the meeting, saying that this whole secrecy-cloak and dagger thing was about to be resolved. However, when I entered, I found only Bella and Jacob waiting. I didn't know what was happening and Alice seemed just as confused as I was. She then became irritated and said, "Bella, seriously, the whole family discussed this last night, _all_ night, and you agreed, we all agreed that this was the best thing to do. Even Edward conceded the point. You can't backtrack now."

"I'm not backtracking, I'm just postponing."

"What for?"

Jacob interjected, "Something serious has come up. Leah tried to kill herself."

"I heard, Jason said he rescued her."

"Not that time, she tried again. This time she jumped off a cliff up in the mountains."

I asked without thinking, "Is she okay?"

He seemed angry with me when he replied. "She's alive. She caught on a branch and that partially broke her fall. She's still pretty banged up. Carlisle is trying to help, but she's resisting, keeps asking to be killed."

Alice asked, "Why? Is she that depressed?"

"Depressed is what she was. She chose the cliffs at First Beach because she wanted to be saved. This time, she wasn't looking to be rescued, she wanted certain death, and it's because of you."

I was annoyed at that. I'd done my best to save her, and this was the thanks I was getting? The blame for making her more suicidal?

I asked, "What did I do? Is it because I'm a vampire?"

"Yes, but it's not simply because of what you are, it's what you've become in her eyes."

"I don't understand."

"She imprinted on you."


	3. Chapter 3: Struggles

**STRUGGLES**

_She imprinted on me_. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Did I even _want_ to know what that meant? Why would she basically pretend to commit suicide, too? There were a lot easier ways to get attention if that's what she was after. Then there was the whole serious attempt after I'd saved her. I knew some of the shapeshifters, especially in the Uley Pack, were less than keen on vampires, but even they had softened over the six years since the Volturi came here, as proven by Sam's willingness to allow me on Quileute lands for the better part of a day. Still, trying to kill herself because a vampire had rescued her seemed a little extreme to me. I demanded Jacob explain what imprinting meant. He was clearly not in the best humour, and I'd say he was about to make that clear to me when he became distracted again. He then said, "I need to get back to the cabins. Bella, Alice, keep him here."

Bella asked, "What's happening?"

"I'll tell you later. I have to go."

As soon as he was out the door, he went wolf. Given that the cabins were only a kilometre away, he was clearly in a rush. My eyes fell to Bella for an explanation of what was going on. She avoided my gaze, looking to Alice for an out. To her credit, Alice caught on immediately but just as she was about to speak, I said, "Don't bother. I want answers, and I want them now. You all agreed to no more secrets."

Bella replied, "Jason, it's not about keeping secrets."

"Then what is it?"

"It's just not my place to say."

"Not your place? Then who's is it?"

"Jacob might come around, but it may be Leah who ends up explaining."

"I don't understand."

"It's a personal thing for her. All I can say, Jason, is if what I know of imprinting is true then she won't be able to fight it much longer."

"Can you at least tell me what to expect? Is this bad or good?"

"…Bad now, whether it's good later on depends on you."

"I'm so confused."

"Oh, Jason, it's only just beginning."

There was no let it up in the bewilderment for the rest of the day. Carlisle did not return that night, and the others came and went in turns. I sat in the living area wound tighter than a spring. However, the tension was accompanied by anxiety and maybe, I'll admit, a little fear, fear of the unknown. At least that fear made sure the blackness was well and truly smothered. As Sunday dawned, I gave up and retreated to my room. I sat on my sofa. My eyes wandered idly to the window. The weather had already turned as, Alice, our personal weather forecaster, had predicted. Angry black clouds rolled in as the dawn sun shone fiery light upon their undersides. I could hear distant thunder, and a stiff breeze was building outside, the trees swaying under this violent sky. A few minutes later, the clouds drifted overhead and the dawn light was occluded. The rain pelted down continuously after that. However, over the whistling wind, the pounding rain, and the thunder, there was another sound in the storm, the chilling howls of a wolf in the depths of some unfathomable agony. A single flash of lightning lit up my entire room and my eyes came to rest upon the perfectly crafted wolf on my windowsill, made of a pale, almost greyish wood, caught eternally in a mournful howl.

It was late afternoon, and I still hadn't emerged from my room. The others came and went, but Alice and Esme were constantly checking up on me. Each time I reassured them I was fine, and that I just needed some quiet time. I wasn't telling them to leave me alone, well, at least I wasn't demanding it, but this whole situation with the female shapeshifter, Leah, had me totally off balance and as silly a notion as it was, I didn't really want anyone to see me this disconcerted. It was just that when any of them came to see me, I immediately got the impression that they knew exactly what was going on and they themselves seemed very cagey about discussing it. It was like they were embarrassed by the topic. This was far worse than before when the secrets were kept out of necessity, this was just so much more uncomfortable, and it was doing nothing for my anxiousness. At least the blackness had crawled as far into its recess as was possible. I definitely was not in the form to start more fires. I tried to distract myself surfing the web on my tablet and playing music that in no way reflected my mood, for my new family could hear my choices.

I wrote some letters to Fiona and Dermot.

They weren't lengthy essays or anything, just short notes to let them know I was okay and that I missed them. The hard part, though, was telling them that Chloe was dead. Since I hadn't contacted them at all since I went on the run, all they knew was that we both disappeared, because of that, they probably assumed I was either dead or a captive of the Volturi. I was sure that hearing from me would bring them much relief, but grief, too, for my loss. I realised Fiona probably knew all this on some level. Her ability is much like a combination of Aro's and Alice's. When she meets someone, she can instantly know everything about them, even things they might have forgotten, but she can also keep tabs on them by concentrating on them and finding out what decisions they were making or had made since she last thought of them. It was like she was constantly updating her knowledge like a computer might refresh an internet page. However, her mind was not infallible, she could still forget things, and with increasing time since her last physical meeting with the person, her ability returned vaguer and vaguer details. Distance didn't help either, and I was on the other side of the world from her. I hoped that she was at least able to sense that I was still alive, I'd have hated to think of them in misery, left wondering all these months, and it might soften the blow if they already had some notion that Chloe was no longer with us. I wrote personal letters, one to Dermot, one to Fiona, and one for them to pass on to the Irish Coven. I wrote one letter to both of them, though:

_Dear Fiona & Dermot_

_I'm writing to let you know that I made it, I'm okay, the Volturi didn't get me or kill me. I think I gave them a good show, though! They chased me across the continent into Siberia, but I lost them there. They have no idea where I've gone. I'm sorry I'm only contacting you both now. You were probably worried sick. I hope, Fiona, that you were able to sense that I was alive at least. If that's the case, perhaps what I have to tell you now will not be such a blow. _

_Chloe is no longer with us._

_I did everything I could, I fought so hard against them, but it was not enough. I miss her every day. I can never forget her, but her death and all that happened beforehand are overshadowing my better memories. It's hard to keep it together when all I can think about is how I ultimately failed her. She was everything to me, and I'm not sure what to do with the emptiness now._

_I really wish I could talk to you both, you have no idea how hard it's been to be apart from you, especially now. Okay, this letter was meant to be reassuring but I've botched that, too! Just know that where I am I'm safe, I'm happy, and I've made new friends. I can't send you a return address for obvious reasons. I'm taking a risk putting down your address. I'd send it somewhere else if I knew that you'd get it. Just know I love you both and if I can, I'll find a way to visit you. I'll write again soon._

_Yours truly_

_Jason_

_I really suck at reassuring people_.Seriously, who starts to tell someone they're okay and ends up describing in detail their grief and suffering? I hoped that they'd find my personal letters more of a comfort.

I had to roughly guess their address. I had never actually asked her for it, but I knew the townland in Kerry where the cottage was. I just hoped there were no other Fionas in the area and that she actually regularly received mail. Clearly, I wasn't too specific in what I told them, just in case the letters were intercepted. I just hoped that if the Volturi were able to get their hands on my mail that they wouldn't put two and two together when they realised where I was sending from. Hopefully, they'd just think I was hiding out somewhere in the US. I was being paranoid anyways. What were the odds of them actually finding my letters amongst the millions that they'd end up with? I sealed them in an envelope and set them aside, ready to be posted when I went into town tomorrow for school.

It was at that moment that Emmett's huge form appeared in my doorway. I hadn't closed my door in the hopes that I'd catch someone passing or hear something that I wouldn't otherwise hear. Stupid notions, I guess, seeing as the blackness could do that for me out to a distance of several miles. He had his hands behind his back and a mischievous grin. I narrowed my eyes, saying, "If you throw another baseball at me, I swear to God, I'll set your hair on fire."

"Okay, it is a baseball, but I was hoping this time I might be able to convince you to play."

"I'll be honest, I'm not sure where my head is at right now. I'd probably be no use to you."

"Then maybe I should throw it at you and liven you up a bit."

"Funny. I just really wish I had a clue what was going on." I put my face in my hands and rubbed my eyes, even though I couldn't be tired.

"I'm sorry, man. This really sucks for you, doesn't it?"

"Oh God, no, this is just a ball. Everyone knowing something I don't and not telling me, that's refreshing."

Emmett hesitated a moment. He moved with vampire speed to close the door and then said, "You create barriers, right?"

"Yeah, I can, why?"

"Are they soundproof?"

"I don't know. I've never checked."

"Form one between you and me, right now, across the room."

"Why?"

"So we can test it."

I hadn't caught on why he wanted to do this. I literally dragged the blackness out of its recess in my mind. I guess my anxiety was running really high, this task should have been simple. It was like pulling teeth to stretch it from wall to wall between Emmett and myself, making sure to fill in every nook and cranny. Holding it was harder. It was then Emmett asked, shouting unnecessarily loud, "Did you do it?"

"Yeah."

"Well, that answers that. We can still hear each other."

"Wait, does my voice sound off to you?"

"Yeah, like there's an echo."

"…I know what's happening. We can hear our voices reverberating through the walls."

"Then the answer's simple, right? Just surround us in one of those bubbles you make."

"How do you know about that?"

"Edward us told us about it when he was describing your pleasant car trip to school."

"How interesting, so he knows what I'm doing with the blackness, and I thought only I could perceive it."

"Ah, we're kinda getting off topic, so how about that bubble?"

I let it go and concentrated on coating the window, the walls, the floor and ceiling with a solid barrier that would prevent sound escaping. The blackness spread away from me in every direction, covering every place I wanted it to and neatly avoiding any of the contents of the room. Doing that much, though, was strenuous in the state I was in. Emmett let out a rather embarrassing sound when the blackness slipped under his feet and raised him about an inch off the floor. I supposed in his perception we were both floating on air. He took a few tentative and awkward steps forward as if to test the waters and then, with vampire speed, seated himself on the leather sofa and threw his feet up on it. He said, "Sorry man, that's a bit too much weirdness for me."

"That's all right, though you know the sofa's floating, too, right?"

"Do you want to hear what I have to say or not?"

"Okay, okay, Mr. Sensitive, carry on."

"Right, well, I'm supposed to be onboard with the whole "keeping you in the dark about Leah" thing, but I don't think she's going to get around to explaining the whole deal to you anytime soon, so I think it's my duty as your newly adopted brother to fill you in on all the facts."

"All right…"

"And I promise not to take the piss too much with it."

"I'm gonna hold you to that. So what's this imprinting thing?"

"Well, Jacob describes it with a lot of flowery, poetic language that really doesn't do it justice, in fact, it's a sugar-coat. I think you deserve the cold, hard facts. When one of the Quileutes imprints, they get all woozy and lovey-dovey and in the process, they lose their independence."

"I don't understand."

"Imprinting on someone involves complete and utter devotion to the subject of that imprint. Whatever that person needs them to be, they'll be, anything from a friend to a sibling to a lover. It's a force beyond their control, they have absolutely no say on who they imprint on."

"So, simply put, she's fallen head over heels in love…with me?

"On some level, yes."

Well, suffice it to say that that was not what I expected. I actually don't think I even knew what I expected, but it definitely wasn't that. Leah felt compelled to be whatever I needed, to quite possibly devote her whole life to me. I was too numb from shock to decide what I thought of that. Yet, I knew deep down that there was this niggling feeling, this sense that this was something I wanted, that this could be a good thing just as Bella had said. Even though I was a vampire, I was still very young to be thinking about lifelong commitments. On the other hand, I knew the life of an immortal was going to be a very lonely one by comparison to a human life. When it came to most people I was going to meet, I could never be totally myself or open up to them fully. I would always have to be on guard for any mistake that might reveal the secret. I might as well go through existence with one of my barriers up to ward off everyone except my vampire kin. I think it would be the lies I'd have to tell that would get me down the most and having someone to share those feelings with would mean a lot. Of course, every member of the Cullens family was there for one another, but what were my chances of finding more than a familial relationship? Perhaps I was a bit young to be thinking so seriously about that subject but it was worth considering. Very few vampires would willingly choose to live what the Cullens dubbed a "vegetarian lifestyle". From what I could tell, too, vampires quite nearly imprint on each other, also. When I thought of Bella and Edward, Alice and Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie, and Carlisle and Esme, I just saw nothing but fathomless love and devotion that would never fade no matter how long they lived. It was somewhat reassuring to know that such love could exist. Yet, if I waited for one of my own kind, I might be alone for a long time. If this imprint was as serious for Leah as it seemed, maybe I could help her in accepting it.

_Yes, that's what I'll do. This is right. _Don't ask me where that certainty came from. Something just told me to accept what had come to me.

Emmett said, "Are you okay, man?"

I realised I must have been standing there dumbstruck for at least a minute. I replied, "I think I am actually."

"Hold on, what's with the smile?"

"I'm not smiling."

"Yeah, you are, you like this idea of having such an attractive woman totally in love with you, don't you?"

"No, I-ah, am, I'm just looking on the positive side."

"That's because that's all I've given you. You need to hear the cons, too, man."

"What cons?"

"Leah's not like the other shapeshifters per se. She hates our kind a lot more than any of them and despite everything we've all been through; she's never wavered, never softened even a little bit."

"Okay, but surely the imprint will make her forget about all that."

"That's the thing, man, shapeshifters aren't supposed to be able to fight an imprint. It's supposed to be like a life-altering event, something that ties that shapeshifter irrevocably to another person. I mean Sam left Leah for her cousin because he imprinted on her. It's not something they ever resist, not for anything. Now, you saw how she reacted to you on the beach. I'm only getting this second-hand from Jacob, but I got the impression that she was like traumatised."

"That's one way of putting it."

"She ran from you, Jason. She even tried to seriously kill herself. Now, I'm not an expert on Leah. It's not like we get together and trade gossip and talk about our feelings but from what I've heard, she's very troubled. She feels isolated all the time because the Uley Pack is where Sam, her ex is, and her own pack, the Black Pack, is so close to us that she feels left out in the cold. Even her brother, Seth, is constantly hanging out with Edward. On top of that, there's been an unusual number of imprints among both packs. It's apparently unheard of but every member of both packs has imprinted bar one, until recently."

"Leah…"

"Ahuh, she feels that she's a mistake, a dead-end. She's the only female shapeshifter ever. For that reason, she thinks she'll never find happiness like the others and because all shapeshifters are connected by some weird mind link that Edward could probably explain better, she's constantly exposed to how they're all feeling and what they're thinking. She can't escape."

"So that's why she did what she did at La Push, she wanted to see would any of her kin care enough to intervene."

"Exactly, but they were all so distracted by thoughts of their one true loves that she got as far as diving and nearly drowning. To put it simply, man, this is a unique event. A shapeshifter has never imprinted on a full-blood vampire before. It might have something to do with her being the only ever female shapeshifter. You see female vampires are sterile because they're bodies can't undergo the changes necessary to carry a child. I think you'll agree, though, that the man's part in the process is relatively small."

"Am, I guess…"

"What I'm getting at is that male vampires like ourselves can still father children if we were to do the deed with a human woman."

"All right, I get the picture. Get on with it."

"Well, imprinting also has the function of choosing partners for the shapeshifters who'll produce the strongest offspring and since Leah can have children and you're not shooting blanks, well…you can figure out the rest yourself."

"Wow, Emmett, so delicately put."

"Thanks, I tried really hard not to be crude there."

"Hold up actually. Did you say Leah was the first shapeshifter to imprint on a _full-blood_ vampire?"

"Well, what do you think would happen if you knocked up a human? The kid would be half vamp, of course."

"So, what will Leah's children be?"

"God only knows but don't you think you're getting ahead of yourself?"

"Why?"

"Well, you'll have to get Leah to like you before she'll procreate with you."

"And on that note, this conversation is over."

I had to give credit where credit's due, though, Emmett did do a fairly good job of clarifying what imprinting meant. Although, try as he might, he couldn't keep his inherent "Emmett-ness" out of his explanations. Even though I'd absorbed the news of Leah's involuntary infatuation pretty well in my opinion, it was still a lot to process, especially when I could only talk to Emmett about it and he'd just about expended all his helpfulness for the foreseeable future. Besides, he wasn't even supposed to have told me about it and whilst humans might not find a silent but occupied room suspicious, a vampire's keen hearing meant they'd realise that no one in the room was breathing or moving, even a little. Therefore, I decided to use my soundproofing trick only sparingly. It was early Monday morning and still, I hadn't left my room. It occurred to me that I hadn't hunted as yet. It had been over a week by then, and looking at my reflection, I noticed my eyes had taken on that pitch-black colour like fully dilated pupils. There was still a faint ring of gold around them, but it was fading, and I didn't want to reach starvation point anyways. I had a far greater degree of control than most newborns, but I wouldn't trust myself one hundred percent around humans in that state, and I had school in seven hours. I decided that some fresh air would do me good, well, getting out for a while would be beneficial, the air didn't make much difference anymore.

I came downstairs very quietly. No one seemed to be home. Wait, I sensed movement, sounds upstairs. Rosalie and Emmett were still in the house. For a moment, I was concerned about getting away without them noticing but listening more closely, I realised they had other things on their mind. They apparently were taking _full_ advantage of having the house to themselves, forgetting that I was still here. I tried to ignore the sounds but at this stage, it was like they were at it right in front of me. I couldn't believe I'd been so wrapped up in my own thoughts that I hadn't noticed before. That performance would have roused the dead. I cringed and quickly exited the house, running very far, very fast to get out of range of their very vocal _exertions_. I think I ran a little too hard, for I found myself in an area of the forest I hadn't been before, plus I didn't think to get my bearings before I took off so I didn't even know which direction I'd went. It didn't matter really. Even without the advantage of the blackness, I could probably smell my way home. I was closer to the mountains here, judging from the sloping ground, so I must have come east. To a human, this dark wood would be forbidding with the shadowy forms of trees barely standing out against the cloud-darkened night sky with the crunching and rustling of foliage bringing the constant fear of someone or something in pursuit. To my eyes, though, everything was as clear as day, literally. I could still make out every tree leaf, every stick on the ground, every rock. Those noises, too, that would give a human that creepy-crawly sensation were, to me, potential prey. I could even see them, squirrels, rodents, and birds, disturbed from their slumber by my presence, scurrying away in fright. They weren't really worth my attention, though. I went into hunting mode, sniffing out a more sizeable prey item, something that would satiate my thirst. At first, I didn't catch any fresh scents, just those of passing deer that probably came through this area days before.

I wandered around before moving on to a new hunting ground a few miles north, and there I caught a most unusual scent.

It was vaguely human but not quite. There were the hints of familiar vampires intermixed with that scent so this, whatever it was, had been in close contact with them. I was almost sure I could get Bella's scent, perhaps Edward's, too. Against my better judgement, I followed it. A few more miles to the northeast and it became very strong, I knew it was recent. Whoever left it could not have been gone from there for more than ten minutes. There were some very earthy odours there also that I was only just noticing, definitely deer, but I'd lost interest at that point, that was until I found myself in a clearing where a herd was at rest for the night. They were too alert, of course, to ever be fully asleep so they were immediately roused by my presence and darting off into the undergrowth. It was too late for them, however, I was right on top of them. I immediately selected the best candidate, a young stag that was quite bulky compared to the does. I zeroed in on him and gave chase. Deer are nimble enough creatures when on the run, able to dodge obstacles and rapidly change direction, but they were no match for my speed. I was almost upon him, just over an arm's length away when out of nowhere, something charged the stag from the side and swiped it out of my grasp off to my right. I only saw a dash of bronzy hair move past me.

_Competition._

I went into defensive mode, my senses searching for the offending rival. I swivelled around. I heard the stag's last pitiful breaths mere feet away. I saw rustling in some nearby undergrowth. I rounded the bushes silently. I tried to remember to calm down, to gain control of this automatic, vampiric urge to defend myself and my kill that is so especially strong in newborns. I was reminding myself that my competitor might well be a friend and that doing anything rash was exactly what I'd been trying to avoid. I couldn't override it this time, though. Perhaps it was because I was so parched and in need of blood, blood that had been snatched away at the last millisecond. I was ready to pounce, ready to demonstrate my displeasure at having my dinner robbed right out of my hands. However, when I rounded the bushes, I only found the stag with two puncture marks in its neck trickling blood. I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Someone moving through the trees fast. They were ahead of me about thirty feet out. Then, I swivelled around and caught a form disappear into the undergrowth twenty feet behind me. I raced to that spot but whoever it was was gone. Then, I heard a whistle in the air coming from above and a gentle thud as something landed on the forest floor. They were behind me, taking cautious steps towards my back. I waited exactly three seconds for them to approach just close enough. I pirouetted and raised my hand, letting out a feral growl.

The girl who smirked back at me, though, had me totally disarmed in one brief look.

She had bronze-coloured hair as I'd already seen that fell in tightly-bunched ringlets. Her eyes were a beautiful chocolate brown and her skin was the colour of ivory and completely flawless. Her grin revealed a set of perfectly white teeth that I noticed where a little stained with blood. _That isn't right, though_, I thought. I could clearly hear her heart beating away but it wasn't a noisy thud-thud-thud, more like a gentle fluttering. Her cheeks were flushed red with flowing blood and yet her own odour definitely had vampiric overtones even though there was an underlying human aroma. I knew she was neither human nor vampire but at the same time, she seemed to be both. The blackness, ever curious, was beginning to unfurl from its recess, but it wasn't difficult to hold back. The girl offered her hand, saying, "So, you're the new Cullen?"

I wasn't sure if I should respond. I was very thirsty but her blood wasn't very appealing. I took her hand warily, pulling back after a second of contact. She was on fire, her skin felt like molten metal against mine. She laughed sweetly and said, "My, you're a jumpy one, aren't you?"

"Who-who are you?"

"The name's Renesmee, and you're Jason."

"Renesmee? You're a member of the Black Pack, right?"

"Ha! Is that what they told you?"

"Well, I think Jacob let your name slip, Bella had to cover quickly."

"Poor, poor Jacob, he isn't always quick off the mark, but I love him regardless, and my psycho-protective mother, too, but don't tell her I admitted that."

"_Mother_? You're Bella's daughter?"

"Wow! They really told you nothing about me, did they?"

"I knew they were keeping a secret, that's it."

"My, my, I wondered how much you knew. I've tried to meet you several times, including that time at the Black Pack ranch as I dubbed it. They always manage to thwart me, though. I guess it doesn't help having a father who can read your thoughts and a shapeshifter soul mate who never leaves your side."

"Wait, I don't understand. Vampires can't have children."

"No, they can't but my mother had me when she was still human."

It was then that what Emmett said about Leah being the only shapeshifter to ever imprint on a full-blood vampire started to make even more sense. He was trying to hint that there was a half-blood among them and a shapeshifter had imprinted on them. So that meant Jacob had imprinted on Renesmee, a unique occurrence and now this, me and Leah, an even stranger happening. It seemed incredible to me to behold a being such as her. She was human in her physiology, but her strength, speed, and bloodlust made her far more than simply human. She wasn't of great stature and she was quite dainty and yet she took down that stag like it was a weak, little bunny rabbit. I wondered if she had any other vampire traits. She interrupted my train of thought, saying, "So what have they made you?"

"Sorry?"

"Well, should I call you uncle Jason or something?"

"I guess so if you want. In public, I'm Carlisle's long-lost nephew."

"So you're like my second cousin?"

"Not strictly speaking but yeah, if you prefer."

"Hmm, allow to think that one through. So, I take it you're not a native of the US?"

"How could you tell?"

"Hmm, you look like a lost tourist I guess. We get a lot of those. No one comes to Forks on purpose. I just never imagined my family would take one in."

"…Are you trying to be funny?"

"Not at all…well, yeah, a little. You're accent is very endearing by the way, and I don't actually have to try that hard to understand you."

With a little chagrin, I said, "You think you're very clever, don't you?"

"_Think_? Please, I know."

"You seem very sure of yourself. I suppose you did get away from your parents and guardian. How did you know I'd be out here?"

"I didn't. To think, the one time I didn't try to meet you is the one time I run into you. I'm kind of running away from home. I'm being swapped between Jacob's and my parent's places at the moment and I'm being suffocated by their overprotectiveness and constant lecturing about obeying the rules. It sucks, so I gave Jacob the slip while we were on our way to his place. He tried to catch me, of course, but he isn't as good in the trees as I am."

"Nice, you're a wily one."

"I may be only six but I have street smarts."

"Six? No way! You have to be at least eighteen."

"Ugh! How rude to comment on a lady's age like that. Are you saying I look old?"

"Sorry, but you wouldn't pass for a kid starting elementary school."

"Well, I'm not kidding. That's how old I am. Apparently, my kind grow super-fast and mature fully in six years, so I'm technically an adult, but I'm still treated like a toddler. It's very frustrating."

"I really can't imagine, but I'll take your word for it. So what do you plan to do now?"

"Just bum around the forest till noon. That should rattle them to my satisfaction and then, I guess I'll have to face the music…"

Suddenly, a low, angry voice said from nearby, "That time might come sooner than you think, daughter mine."

It was Edward followed closely by Bella. Not too far behind was Jacob in human form. That pulled Renesmee up well short, and her self-confidence drained away to be replaced with apprehension. She said, "Dad! How-how did you…"

"You're a clever girl all right, my dear. Not actually thinking about what you were going to do until moments before you did it was smart. However, I keep track of your thoughts nearly constantly, so I knew straight away what you'd done. I decided to let you have your fun, though."

"What?"

"Renesmee, I could have caught up with you within five minutes had I wanted to. This won't happen again, however. Jacob might not be able to scale trees like you can, but your mother and I certainly can. From now on, when you're going to Jacob's you'll have two escorts."

"Are you all out of your minds? What's the point? I've met Jason now. There's no more need for this charade."

Bella replied, "This isn't about that anymore, Renesmee. We asked you to do one simple thing, and you outright refused. I know you were curious about Jason, but you should have obeyed us if only just to humour us until we could be certain of your safety."

"But he's harmless."

Edward answered, "He almost attacked you over a kill and besides that, my dear, you really have no comprehension of what he's capable of."

"And you do?"

"Actually, I do."

He eyed me meaningfully when he said that. I snarled a small bit. Bella looked at me sternly and then returned her attention to her daughter. "As I was saying, you disobeyed our rules and there are consequences for that. Firstly, you're grounded. You won't leave the house without two of us with you at all times. You're privileges are going to get seriously curtailed, too. You'll also attend home-schooling properly and get good sleep. You've done enough all-nighters and slacking on your schoolwork this past week. With me, Renesmee, now!"

She hesitated but thought better of running away. Edward smirked knowingly as if he had already caught that line of thought. Renesmee followed Bella away but not before stopping to say, "It was nice to _finally_ meet you, Jason." She gave her protectors a telling look when she emphasised the word "finally".

I decided to throw in my own piece. "Likewise, perhaps we can do it again some time."

She snorted disdainfully and said, "I wouldn't hold my breath."

She then moved at vampire speed to dash past her mother off into the woods. Bella gave a long-suffering sigh and darted off in pursuit. That left me in the precarious position of being in Edward _and_ Jacob's company. Edward looked as though being in my presence actually physically pained him, so I didn't think me meeting his daughter under these circumstances was going to elevate me much in his opinion. Jacob was reasonably friendly up until what happened with Leah. Now that she was a suicidal mess and a no longer functioning member of his pack, I could see why he might not like me that much anymore. It was hardly my fault but he and his pack mates still had to endure how Leah was feeling through their telepathic link and that couldn't have been pleasant. A most uncomfortable silence extended for several minutes in which time I shifted my feet around nervously, wondering should I run now or was I actually going to have to defend myself. Both of them looked like they'd like nothing more than a good fight. I was fully capable of repelling them but fear set in anyways. That, as always, wasn't a good thing, it meant they'd actually have to hurt me in some way before I could overcome it. I doubted they could say anything that would suffice. Jacob said, "I hope you're happy, bloodsucker. You finally got your way."

"What? You think I set out tonight to circumvent you? This was a chance meeting."

Edward said, "Very convenient that, why are you even out here?"

"Hunting, what else?"

"So you came into my daughter's presence, my half-human daughter, when you needed to feed?"

"You know as well as I do that her scent isn't appealing to vampires."

Jacob half-shouted then. "Don't talk about her like she's some animal."

"I just meant it's the same as your scent. I don't want to feed off you either."

"You know what," he stopped, shook his head, and continued, "I don't know what cosmic joke this is or what she did to deserve it, but I really hope Leah is the first of us to overcome an imprint. The idea of being in anyway associated with you makes my skin crawl."

That did it. The blackness didn't so much unfurl as explode out of its recess. My head felt like the inside of a pressure cooker. I hadn't felt heat like this in some time. That aspect of my ability nearly never showed itself unless I was in incredible pain or truly enraged. Maybe his comment, from an outside perspective, was nothing more than a mean-spirited remark but it infuriated me so far beyond what mere words usually would that the blackness was growing out of control. It spread like some fast-growing weed with tendrils reaching out to caress the trees and bushes with their fiery touch. Everything about me started to smoulder until, when the air around me was hot enough, everything in my immediate vicinity ignited. What happened at the Cullen's house with Emmett was nothing more than the lighting of a candle compared to this. I could not speak. My jaw was set tight. Therefore, it was probably fortunate that Edward could read my mind. I was screaming inside my head for them to run. He had that same alarmed expression he'd had when he sensed me using the blackness before, but now he was truly sensing what it could really do when I was pushed to the edge and over it. He didn't even say a word to Jacob who watched gobsmacked as two towering trees on either side of me were reduced to cinders in mere seconds. I think what really got his attention, though, was seeing me surrounded and partially engulfed in flame and yet I just stood there and let them roll over me harmlessly. Edward caught him under the arm and tore off at full speed without another moment's thought.

To my surprise, I regained some control then. I think once Jacob was out of my sight I began to calm. Still, though, the fire burned on. I realised then that Edward's terror was not purely because of what he had sensed in my mind. I was deflecting the fire with a physical barrier now, but the sensory side of my ability had swept out on its own and was telling me that the forest was bone dry for a hundred feet in every direction. I could see it now beyond the flames, the tree leaves had browned and the leaf litter had become the perfect tinder. I figured that the mind fire had burned so hot that the air temperature had been raised close to the boiling point of water. It would have to get hotter than that to affect Edward but I'm sure he felt it. Jacob, on the other hand, must have suffered some mild burns.

_I bet that's going to improve his opinion of me._

The fire was spreading rapidly. I knew it wouldn't matter how wet the rest of the forest was, if this fire gained enough momentum, it would spread and attract a lot of attention to this location. The Cullen's house was nearby as was the Black Pack's cabins. I had to stop this. I was at a loss, though. I usually caused fires, quenching them would require some creative thinking from me. A solution occurred to me rather quickly. I changed my barrier from a protective wall into a kind of blanket that I spread over the fire. As I did so, the flames reduced in height as they lashed the underside of my improvised fire blanket. Eventually, though, as I lowered the blackness to the ground, the air was pushed out from under it, starving the flames. The last embers flickered defiantly for a time but were soon extinguished, leaving a blackened patch of earth and some piles of light ash that swirled in a strengthening breeze. As I released my will and retracted the blackness, I thought the wind might reignite some of the still glowing embers.

Right in that moment, a sheet of rain came pouring down. _Well, that was all for naught._

At least it did away with the evidence. I stared at the angry sky through the new hole I'd made in the canopy. The weather was surely turning, and I forecasted that the storm wouldn't clear as yet.

When I returned to the house, they were, once again, all there. Only this time, Renesmee was among them, sitting with her mother with quite a satisfied smile upon her face. I saw Edward and Jacob first. Edward was, as I expected, unaffected by the burning air that I had unwittingly blasted towards them. Jacob was a whole other case. It would have been hard to see from a distance with his coppery skin tone, but even a human could see from this close the puffy redness that had broke out all over his exposed skin. I had to suppress a laugh. He looked sunburned. Renesmee followed my line of sight and burst out in laughter. Bella looked at her with consternation, but she kept guffawing. She finally said, "Sorry, it's just too funny. I love you, Jacob, but right now you look like an umpa lumpa."

She continued laughing, joined by Emmett who could never be expected to keep it in. Alice, too, was fighting a losing battle with her lips which refused to remain unsmiling. Edward snapped then and said, "All of you, _quiet_! Be serious for one second."

Jacob added, "Yeah, we nearly got roasted alive by this freak."

I'd been called worse and even though there was some serious venom behind the word, I held the blackness in. I made my point however by trying to replicate the expression I made when he made that comment about Leah's imprint. He wasn't too long backing up at that point, but Edward shook his head, saying, "Don't get excited, Jacob. He's faking it to scare you."

Alice said, "Jason, how mean...I like it."

Edward said, "Alice, I said give it a rest."

"I don't like how you're throwing orders around, Edward, and Jacob, don't throw the word "freak" around in this house. None of us can hardly be considered normal. Besides, this is all your fault."

"What?" Edward exclaimed.

"Are you out of your mind?" said Jacob.

"No, I'm well with it, actually. I was able to see this event coming because it was going to happen to Edward, though, my vision was only from your perspective. I saw enough to know that a few choice words by you two set him off."

Edward replied, "Ridiculous."

Jacob said, "Yeah, and if all it takes to turn him into a living flamethrower is a few comments then he shouldn't be here. He shouldn't be near anyone."

I snarled. It was reflexive. My posture went very stiff at that point and my eyes burned with anger. Something about Leah was implicit in what he said. I still didn't understand why that was setting me off. Perhaps it was the insinuation that I was beneath her, that she deserved better. If she thought that, that was up to her, but I refused to hear it out of Jacob's mouth even once more. Edward posture went defensive, too. He said, "Back off, Jacob, it's starting to be for real."

He wasn't far wrong but this time the blackness wasn't beyond my power to rein in. I was shaking with the effort, though. It was at that point that Esme stood and strode towards me. Her face was intent but compassionate. Edward tried to intervene but stopped short of her when she met him with a stare that would stop a hunting lion in its tracks. He could sense her thoughts and stepped back. He still said, "Don't do this. He's dangerous."

"Edward, you see into people's souls and yet you see nothing. This has gone far enough. Step back, please."

He did so. Esme's command had no edge to it, but it was hard to refuse her when she was like that. She came right up to me, despite the fact that my newborn instincts were screaming at me to defend myself. The blackness, too, was beating at the cage I'd put it in like a vicious animal. Yet when Esme placed a hand on my shoulder, I was instantly calm and at ease. Sometimes, it was hard to believe that Esme didn't have some ability, some way to bring peace and serenity to those around her because the only time I'd felt anything like that was with my sister Chloe. Jasper had a similar ability to her but when he had used it on me, it didn't feel the same, like the change in my mood was forced, artificial. When Chloe did it, it felt more real, I accepted it more. That's not to say that Jasper's ability was any less effective, in fact, in ways, Jasper's ability was stronger. Esme's calming influence was nowhere near as obvious, but it was there nonetheless, and I needed it right then. She said, "It's okay, Jason. Forget all of this. It isn't important. What is is there's no longer any need for secrets. You know about Renesmee now, and you can tell us about your past. We can clear the air."

"I'd like that."

"Okay, why don't you sit?"

So I did, and it all came spilling out. I told them about the Genoans, about how I was changed, I told them about my experiences as a newborn, even about my multiple suicide attempts. They all nodded in understanding of this, especially Carlisle. They'd all probably thought about it at one point or another. They were especially understanding of my choice at the start to feed on criminals, the worst of humanity. I wasn't looking at him much but I caught Edward's eye during that part of the conversation. He looked a little ashamed, but I didn't understand why. Carlisle simply assured me that it was incredible that I had the restraint to pick and choose my prey. I told them everything about Chloe and my family. How important she was to me, how I'd had to leave her for her own safety, how much it hurt when I could not protect her, how I thought of her every day and wished for her back. Esme had her arm around me at that point, and Bella had a saddened expression as I spoke. I told them about meeting Fiona and Dermot, how they helped and, finally, I told them what Fiona could do. "Fiona is unique. The best way to describe her ability is a cross between Alice's and Aro's."

"How so?" asked Carlisle.

"She can know everything about a person or an event merely by concentrating on it. Physical contact isn't necessary; she merely has to be in the presence of the person or, with an event, the persons involved. She can also literally update her knowledge by thinking of the person again at a future date. She can't foresee things like Alice, but she can instantly become aware of a person's most recent decisions. The only weakness her ability has is that with increasing time since her last meeting with a person, she begins to lose her connection with them and what she can learn becomes vaguer. Distance doesn't help either. For instance, she might not know now that I'm still alive."

Esme asked, "So she still believes you died at the hands of the Volturi?"

"Possibly, I hate the thought of it, but I left to keep her safe from them. It was the right thing to do."

Carlisle replied, "Yes, it was. Aro would salivate if heard of such an ability. He would stop at nothing to possess her."

Edward added, "I still can't believe the Irish Coven knew about her all along."

"They are our friends, Edward, but there's friendship and then there's family. I don't blame Siobhan for keeping this secret from us. The less people who know about Fiona the better."

Emmett said, "I think we all owe Jason an apology. Personally, I don't think he should have had to divulge any of this. A lot of it is very personal."

Rosalie surprised me by saying, "I agree. I'd hate having to spill my guts like that."

"Thank you, Rosalie." I said.

"You're welcome." It was a very stiff response, but it was something. Emmett smirked and threw his huge arm around her.

I then said, "But it's okay. It's like Esme said, the air is clear now. I prefer it this way. I want to apologise to all of you. I know my ability makes me like an armed explosive inside your home, but I promise the emotions that set it off are not malicious. It's just very hard to control them."

Esme replied, "We know that, Jason. I believe, though, that you'll find it a lot easier from here on out. We all understand you've been through a lot. Every member of this family can relate to that. I also think certain members of the family are seeing that you are not so different from the way they were once."

Edward looked distinctly uncomfortable, seeming as though he'd implode into nothingness when he approached me, but he did and he said, "I apologise, Jason. Esme is right. I was a newborn once with an ability. I thought since I could sense the thoughts of criminals, see the atrocious acts they would commit, that I was doing good by taking their lives, but that was not my right. I see now that maybe you're trying to find your way just as I was when I was new to this life. I hope we can put this behind us."

He extended his hand to me and after a second's consideration, I took it. We weren't going to be the best of buddies straight away, but it takes a big person to admit when they're wrong and to say sorry. If Edward was going to take the high road then so was I. Bella was next to approach me. She said on the opposite side of me to Esme and said, "I think I owe you an apology, too, Jason. I was unnecessarily harsh to you a few times, but the way I feel about Renesmee is how you felt about Chloe. She's everything to me. I'd give my life for her in a second. I know you understand that. I'm hoping you can forgive me my borderline bitchiness."

"Borderline?" I asked. She seemed shocked, but then I smiled and she realised I was joking. "Of course I do, I'd probably have done the same."

"I suppose you're not all bad, are you?" Jacob interjected. He stood over me, also offering his hand. He continued, "You really cared for her, your sister, didn't you?"

Taking his hand, I replied, "More than I can tell you."

"Then what I said was wrong, what I _implied _was wrong. I'm not certain if it can work out between you but now, I hope this cosmic joke becomes a cosmic miracle. She'll kill me for telling you this but…she was tearing herself apart trying to fight the imprint, it's just such an unnatural thing for us to do, but when I said those things to you, I think something clicked for her. She thought I was wrong. I don't know if that means much, but maybe she'll be open to at least confronting what she's feeling head on."

"In order words, if I were planning to see her, now would be as good a time as any."

"Pretty much, her injuries healed fairly quickly, so she's just wandering aimlessly in the forest. She's in deadlock. She won't escape it until she faces this and until she does, the whole pack will be tied up with it. I have to consider them, too."

"I understand. Well, I guess I've mended all the bridges here, now I'm going to have to build one."

"Good luck with that. You're going to need it."

"Thanks, Jacob, for the reassurance."

"Any time."

Esme stood with me and said, "Jason, maybe it's too soon. Leah is…volatile. She might need more time to come to terms with this."

Jacob said, "Afraid not, Esme, the longer this lingers, the more it'll rile her up. She needs to get this out now."

Esme nodded and dipped her head. Then she looked at me and said, "You're so young, yet you've lived through more grief than one person should know in a lifetime. Now you're preparing to take another huge step, one that humans twice your age are sometimes unready to make. I feel like the world just won't slow down for you."

"I'm not human, Esme. Whether this happens now or later is meaningless as is time."

"You're wrong, Jason. I think you'll find in due course that time can mean more for us than it does for humans. Just because we are not limited by a terminable lifespan does not mean each moment is of less value."

Carlisle put his arm around his wife, kissed her gently on the forehead, and said, "Well said, my dear." He turned to me and said, "It's just you're new to this family, Jason, and we all want the best for you. We were hoping things would happen at a slower pace for you, so you could adjust."

I shrugged and said, "I'll do both, live fast _and_ adjust. How hard could it be?"

Alice interrupted, "You're not a woman, Jason. Even male vampires can't multi-task. Emmett is a prime example."

He replied, "Hey what you talking about? I juggled twelve baseballs while jumping on a trampoline once."

"…That wasn't exactly what I was getting at, Emmett."

"I don't get it."

Rosalie patted his arm and said, "Let it go, sweetheart."

I smiled at that. Alice seemed very satisfied with her "my-work-here-is-done" face. Edward sniggered, probably catching my thought. Alice narrowed her eyes at him and said, "What are you giggling about?"

"I'll tell you later. I think Jason better be on his way first."

I ducked away from Alice's glare and strolled slowly towards the door. I turned to them all before I went. I said, "I feel like you're sending me off to war."

Emmett said, "With Leah, we might as well be."

Edward added, "Maybe one of your personal shields might be in order."

"I'll keep that in mind. Just promise me one thing, if this goes belly up, someone come and reassemble me. I'm hoping that in the worst case scenario that Leah won't be coherent enough to think of burning me."

Jacob added, "Fingers crossed. She can be vengeful, though."

"Really, you suck at making people feel better."

"Hey, I'm just a realist."

"Whatever, can you at least give me a general direction to go?"

"…West, roughly fifteen miles."

"That sounds very familiar."

"Where else did you think she'd be?"

The run to La Push took me a lot longer than it should have. For one, I was starting and stopping, considering how to approach her, what to say, if this was even a good idea, should I just give up on this whole notion altogether? That last one was the question that really had me re-evaluating my circumstances. After all, I was still only sixteen and whilst I would never get any older, I still had a lot to experience and an indefinite amount of time to do it in. As far as I could tell, an imprint was an irresistible attachment to one person, a lifelong commitment. It essentially meant that I would only ever be with Leah if I chose this. Yet, the more I thought about it, the more that that particular concept seemed not to matter, in fact, it was drawing me on. The reality was that being a vampire meant a very lonely existence, one filled with people who would come and go, usually because we would have to move on before they noticed our lack of ageing, or, quite simply, we would outlive them. It never occurred to me to ask whether shapeshifters were immortal, and perhaps I was setting myself up for a world of pain if in a few decades time she died and I lived on. However, even with my new family, I would be lonesome, so perhaps a few decades of happiness would be worth any eventual suffering. In the end, I accepted that, yes, this was happening very, _very_ fast, but I would always wonder what if if I didn't at least give this a shot.

With newfound resolve, I covered the last three miles in as many minutes and to my surprise, she was right there, out in the open. She certainly hadn't made it difficult for me to find her; after all, she must have sensed me coming. As I walked along First Beach, I was distracted by her wild beauty set against a scene nearly as breath-taking. She sat on the cliff from whence she jumped to the ocean below, her legs thrown over the edge. The storm whipped up her shoulder-length hair as trees swayed about her and waves crashed against the cliff, sending up spray that almost reached her before being caught in the gale. I was surprised to see the sun creeping over the eastern horizon and shafts of sunlight burst through the trees to cast their radiance upon her. I considered for a second how many hours I'd dawdled and meandered before coming here, but that no longer mattered. She was beautiful, beautiful but damaged in so many ways, but to me, in that moment, she was perfect and thereafter, that impression did not subside. It was just then that the first few drops began to fall. She felt them, too, and she stood woodenly, her face sombre. However, as she did so, her eyes just happened to wonder down to the beach, and she caught sight of me. I gazed up at her stunning visage and gave her a slight smile, hoping to head off any anxiety she might feel on seeing me.

Well, it didn't help, and anxiety was not exactly how she responded.

Her face contorted in rage as if I had invaded her private sanctuary. Her woodenness melted away into fluidic, graceful motion as she bolted and disappeared into the trees behind her. I could hear her footfalls, she was heading inland, deeper into the forest, not in the direction of the reservation or the cabins but off into the wilderness. She was obviously not ready to confront me directly but if I just waited, let her linger in this state, she never would. It was up to me then to make her face the imprint or she would spend her life in absolute turmoil. I shot across the length of the beach in a few seconds and entered the forest not far from the short pass that led to the tidal pools. I could still hear her. She wasn't as fast in human form as in wolf form, but she was still a good sprinter. Unless she changed, though, I would easily catch up to her. I was gaining. I could smell her scent on the air.

_That scent…_It was invigorating, incredibly enticing.

Peculiarly, whilst the other shapeshifters actually smelled like the animals they turned into, Leah had a scent like wildflowers, a strong but natural sweetness. I zeroed in on that pure, alluring odour. If I had encountered a normal human with that scent in my early days as a vampire, I would have been overpowered by it, I would have had to have their blood. As it was, with her heartbeat pulsing so very close by, I was finding it hard to fight back my instinctual urge to hunt, which was strong given I still hadn't fed. I hadn't expected this. I hadn't noticed her odour when I rescued her from the ocean, probably because it was drowned out by the smell of sea salt, and the smell of the other shapeshifters was no more appealing to me than the animals I hunted in the forest. My throat was on fire, my body screamed for blood. The very pores in my tissues sang with every wave of her scent that filled my airways. In a weird eureka moment, I finally figured out the function of those pores, they were there to saturate my tissues with the blood of my prey when I fed, to ensure maximum circulation so that my body would remain strong. I was no more than a few hundred feet away now, and the breeze carried her euphoric aroma into my lungs. I was drunk with it. I didn't think a vampire could feel this way. Her flowing blood rang in my ears, her scent blossomed in my nostrils and set fire to my whole body. It was a sensation not unlike being high, like her scent was my personal opium. Yet, unlike with a human, that ecstasy was not accompanied by any inebriated behaviour. If anything, I was more focused, focused on the hunt, on catching my prey and feasting upon her until not a drop remained.

I came to a dead stop. Her footfalls had disappeared.

I was glad of the sudden change, it brought me up short and gave me an opportunity to get a hold upon my instincts. Even so, I knew that what I had experienced was not normal. No person I had ever encountered had smelled as good as that. That euphoric feeling was still bewilderingly strong. I closed my eyes and tried to focus. Just then, the scent returned in force, and I had to hold myself rigid on the spot to stop myself going insane with ravenous desire. "You're just like the rest of them, aren't you?"

I swivelled around. I met Leah's accusatory eyes as she stepped from behind a nearby tree. She was stunning to behold this close. Her lissom and flawless physique was impossible not to appreciate. Her dark skin and eyes and her sleek hair just made her an image of beauty, but that was just what I noticed on the periphery of a much greater sensation. Her scent was pouring into me like a torrent. It was agony to be this close to her and to not indulge my craving for her blood. I knew I would not resist for long. I would end up killing her and ruining everything. I had used the blackness to beat down my bloodlust before, and that is what I did then. I let the blackness flow out of mind and into my airways, totally knocking out my sense of smell. I could have just held my breath, but I didn't trust myself to do that, not with Leah. With her odour imperceptible to me now, my head cleared and my body relaxed. She still looked at me with those beautiful eyes filled with resentment and disgust. Among those feelings, though, I sensed hopelessness, as if she felt deep down that her defeat was inevitable. It saddened me that she thought of what had happened between us in that way, but I knew she just needed to see past all her misgivings and look upon the imprint for all it could be if she would only allow it. She said, "You're a monster, another disgusting bloodsucker." Hurtful words, yes, but there was no conviction behind them.

I replied, "You're wrong, Leah, about me and about the Cullens."

"You think your feeding habits make you different?"

"They do make us different. They make us humane and civilised."

"Bullshit, tell me, _Jason_, have you never killed a single soul? Have you never had human blood?"

She knew my name. That was something. I replied, "I won't lie. Yes, when I was made a vampire, I did kill people." An expression of triumph came across her face. I continued, "I killed drug dealers, gangsters, and rapists and after that, I learned to drink from blood bags."

"You think that what they were makes it all better?"

"No, and I will forever regret those choices, but I am not the same person now."

"You're _not_ a person!"

I took a step towards her in anger and half-shouted, "Yes, I am! I may not be human anymore, but I won't be labelled a soulless monster just because that would be convenient for you."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I know what's happened to you, Leah. I know what imprinting means. I also know what you think of vampires, you've made that much clear, so I understand how tormenting this must be for you. Still, I'm not going to reinforce your mistaken impressions of me and my kind just so you can continue to stay in denial."

"Don't you dare pretend to understand my feelings!"

"I don't think I do, Leah…"

"Stop saying my name."

"I'm sorry…"

"_Stop!_ Please stop…"

She looked physically and emotionally drained. She must have used all her strength to resist the imprint when every fibre of her being was telling her to accept it. She held her head in her hands, tears welling in her eyes. She seemed again to be wishing it all away. I could feel nothing but sympathy for her, despite what she'd said to me. She buckled and fell on her knees. Without thinking, I went to help her. She was too shocked by the gesture to react immediately, but I had moved very fast to catch her. My right hand caught her elbow gently whilst my other braced her by her waist. My skin touched hers. She was so very warm, like she had a temperature, but I knew that wasn't the case. Her skin on mine felt like a glacier on fire, but it wasn't uncomfortable, it was almost inviting. For a brief moment, we lingered like that. She seemed fascinated in a perturbed way by how my icy skin felt as it raised goose bumps on her arm. A shiver brought her around. She looked at me with ire and newfound vigour. I was about to pull away when she caught me and threw me back with all her strength. She was by no means weak but I was able to prevent myself from falling flat on my back. She started to hyperventilate. Her eyes bulged with fury. Her body trembled and her fists clenched. I thought she was having some kind of attack. In reality, she was readying to attack me. I knew if she destroyed me she would only destroy herself, it was suicide. Maybe she'd lost it. Maybe she didn't care anymore. All I knew was that in that moment, she could only see this as a nightmare, and no words would reconcile that. I said, gesturing in a placating manner, "Leah, please, calm down. You don't want to do this."

She turned wolf and launched herself at me. Her snapping jaws came within inches of my head, but she found herself unable to reach me. I had drawn a barrier around myself to block her attacks. She barely noticed for the first few minutes, continuing to bite and snap at the unyielding blackness. She reared onto her hind legs, pressing her paws against it as if trying to knock it down. When her initial attempts were unsuccessful, she prowled around me in circles. I stood there. I did not respond in any way, not so much as a twitch. She made several fake lunges, clearly trying to trick me into defending myself. I didn't even budge when she did so. I simply stood my ground and looked into her eyes not with fear, anger, or smugness, but with pity.

Perhaps that was worse.

She snarled, reared up on her hind legs, and tried to attack me from above. I had anticipated that and had wrapped myself in a bubble to protect myself on all sides. Her frustration was peaking. She thrashed and growled, howling her fury, as I just stood there unfazed by her assaults. Eventually, though, her attacks became so furious that my bubble began to deform inwards as she hurled herself against it with incredible force. I intended to offer nothing but a passive barrier to ward her off. I had no intention of responding in kind. That was what she expected of me, and I was out to prove her misconceptions wrong. Still, if she kept this up, she'd end up hurting herself regardless. Eventually, what I feared would happen did. She hurled herself against the blackness, denting it so much that its inner surface came in contact with my body. With that, I heard a resounding pop. She's dislocated her left foreleg from its socket. She barely noticed the injury at all as she prepped to launch another attack. This had to stop. I really didn't want her to injure herself any further, not because of me.

I saw no alternative. I let the barrier down.

I spread my hands in a gesture telling her I was defenceless and said, "I'm completely open, Leah. The next move is yours."

She narrowed her eyes and took one step forward. This was it. I'd have to be prepared to either fight or die. Her injury aside, I could easily subdue her if I chose, but it would be beyond unacceptable to Leah to lose in the way, and nothing would be resolved. So, I just stood there and waited for her to take me. As best she could with an injured leg, she charged. No more than a dozen feet stood between us. I closed my eyes, my last sight being her victorious eyes set in a wolfish visage. She must have reared up again because I immediately felt her paws pressing down on my shoulders. I felt her warm, moist breath blowing in my face as she growled through bared teeth. I waited for death to come, for her to rip my head from my body and find a way to burn my remains. Maybe she truly believed now that if I no longer existed then maybe neither would the imprint. Deep down she must have known it wasn't that simple. Whether it was that realisation or my refusal to fight back, I didn't know, but she gave a surprised yelp and drew back from me. I opened my eyes. She was still right in front of me, prone to attack, but she seemed confused and uncertain. She ran at me and stopped. I did not respond. She then tackled me to the ground and withdrew again. I said, "Leah, I won't fight you."

She did it again. This time it wasn't even enough to topple me. I said, "I won't hurt you. I've already caused you enough pain. Please, let's stop this."

She pushed me backwards, shoving me a good twenty feet until my back was pressed against the trunk of a tree. She stood before me, growling for all she was worth, but I could tell it was forced. I said, "Leah, give me a chance." That left her taken aback. She didn't respond but to stop growling. I said again, "Give me a chance, Leah. Give _this_ a chance."

She shuddered and left out a whine of defeat. She then started shaking her head vigorously and, without warning, returned to human form. She stood before me naked, but her words were what had my attention. She screamed at me, repeatedly saying no whilst pounding my chest with her fists. The pounding lessened as the seconds wore on, and she could only manage one last half-hearted blow with her last utterance of the word no. I couldn't say what possessed me to think that what I did next was the right course of action but, in a moment of rashness, I caught her shoulders, drew her in, and kissed her. It was simply a soft kiss on the lips that lasted a few seconds. Leah pulled away with an expression not of repulsion but almost as if she was affronted that I had kissed her without permission. We gazed into each other's eyes for a few more moments. Her eyes and features had softened as she took in my face, probably allowing herself to look at me properly for the first time. She absent-mindedly touched my cheek with her fingertips. I took her hands in mine and pressed them to my chest. She broke down then, tears streaming freely, as she lay her head against me. I put one arm around her shoulders whilst still holding her hand as she cried. She choked out, "I can't…I just…I don't have it in me anymore. I never did."

"What do you mean?"

"…I-I don't have the strength…the strength to fight how I feel for you anymore."

I placed my hands on her cheeks and looked her straight in the eyes. I tried to convey in that look that I wanted her, that this was what I wanted my future to be, that if she gave me a chance that I would forever endeavour to return the fathomless love and devotion that she was feeling for me. She said, "I can't, I really can't fight anymore."

"Then please, Leah, don't."


	4. Chapter 4: Discovery

**DISCOVERY**

I saw it then, in that one moment when I asked, no, implored her to accept this, to let me in, something in her eyes said this can be, this is real. I could have spent forever staring deeply into those dark eyes filled with hope for the future. I think it was just the change in her that had me so mesmerised. It was like reading her mind, looking into her soul to see everything shift, fall into place for her for the first time. I felt such happiness for her, watching the hopelessness fade to be replaced by a warmth and wonder as to how this could be possible. I had to admit to feeling a little glee myself that maybe my future might not be so bleak and that I could evoke these feelings in another person. I supposed my human life had been such a trial that I'd never even considered myself in that way or even given a moment's thought to that aspect of life. As far as I could remember, I'd never drawn the attentions of any girls and nor had I shown any interest myself beyond what teenage hormones inevitably induce. I didn't even think I'd spoken to a girl before besides to return the vitriol I'd received from some of the ones attending my Galway secondary school.

It was then that the truly important realisation came to me, I'd never kissed a girl before, and to think I was the one who initiated it. I'd gone through one life without ever having that experience. I supposed being a vampire was a second chance after all.

I still cradled her perfect face in my hands. Her heat made me feel like I was on fire, but I liked it. It was nothing like the heat from the blackness. I never enjoyed the coming of the blackness because it was always associated with some trauma or distress. Real fire was nothing to me; I could deflect it like an umbrella deflects drizzle. Now that I'd become a vampire, temperature, I'd thought, didn't really even matter to me any more. This, however, was a fire I didn't want to turn aside; it was a fire I wanted to reach for, to be consumed by. It made me feel like I was truly alive. In fact, touching her skin made me feel like I'd known nothing but ice my whole life.

As I had been tentatively exploring her face, my fingertips tracing the line of her jaw to her ear and brushing back a lock of hair, she, too, had been absent-mindedly caressing my face lightly with her fingers. Just the feel of her against my cool, unyielding skin was electric. It was as if it became molten with her touch. It was in the moment that her hand found its way down my neck onto my chest, her fingers just slipping under the collar of my shirt that a gasp escaped my lips. I won't say that ruined the moment, but it did bring us back to reality, a reality where Leah was stark naked and I was trying desperately not to become obviously aroused.

She was, of course, mortified.

We hadn't even begun to get to know each other and already I'd seen her naked. If we were normal humans feeling a normal attraction for one another then this circumstance wouldn't exactly bode well for a meaningful and lasting relationship. She stood very close to me still with her arms folded over her breasts so I at least wasn't getting to see everything. Despite the ardour that was rising within me, that craved her touch, I at least retained some sliver of chivalry and offered her the jacket I'd been wearing. She took it and said, "Face the tree."

"Am, yeah, yes, of course."

I closed my eyes and turned, ensuring that I couldn't be accused of trying to peek. I heard her slip my jacket on, which was a little too large for her, and button it up. Part of me was afraid that she would take this moment to phase and run, that her doubts would return now that we'd come back to the real world. I sincerely hoped she'd still be there when I turned around again. Every part of my being just wanted to dive back into that moment, to feel that way again.

_I just want to kiss her again_.

It was when I felt her hand on my shoulder, gently pulling me around that I opened my eyes. She seemed timid almost, her eyes wandering to the ground as I tried to gaze into them deeply. My hand instantly went to her cheek so I could hold her eyes. They held so much on their own, such love, such devotion and set against her beauty, it reminded me of the dawn sun, an exquisite moment held forever in her countenance.

_I really just want to kiss her_.

I leant in slowly. Our first kiss was something done in the heat of the moment. That didn't make it any less meaningful, but I had done it without thought. I thought, though, that it demonstrated that I was capable of feeling as she did and that made it special. This time, nerves were coming into play. I still feared that I was rushing her or that at any moment, she might revert to feeling revulsion towards me. I was moving slow enough, and I was probably even shaking, so if she was going to reject my gesture, she had plenty of time to do it. Instead, in the last second before I reached her, she leant forward and kissed me and this time, it was more than just a soft kiss on the lips. Her hands reached up to hold my cheek and the side of my neck as mine moved to her waist. I pulled her against me and we kissed deeply, falling back against the same tree where we'd had our first. I couldn't believe it, but this was more intense, more breathtaking than everything that had come before. I was overwhelmed with sensation. I felt like I was on fire, but I wanted to burn forever. I never even considered that I would ever feel like this. At that point, I was lost in the thrill of these new feelings, awash in her scent and her splendour, mesmerised, enraptured, in love.

_I can love her…I do love her…_

"I love you, Leah."

At first, I wasn't sure if I had just thought that or actually said it. Then I realised that I had and that maybe I was being hasty, maybe it was too soon, but it was the honest truth. I wasn't sure where it was coming from, some deep longing for companionship or something about imprinting that made me want to love her back. After all, I hadn't gotten to know her at all, but something told me that when I did, I would only love her more. My concerns were swept away when Leah replied, "I love you, too, Jason."

She giggled then. I asked, "What's so funny?"

"It's just a long time since I told anyone I love them…and for the first time in a long time, it feels good to say it, it feels right, and that just makes me so happy. I feel all warm and gushy and I just keep asking myself is any of this real?"

"I could pinch you or I could just kiss you again."

"I prefer the latter."

I was a bit more confident the third time, but the sensation did not diminish. It just seemed to get better every time as her warm, velvet lips pressed against mine, her fire on my ice, a collision that just exploded into a perfect storm of pleasure. I felt the heat of her body burning into my skin through my clothes. My hands on her lower back felt like they were being torched, but it was all exhilarating. I craved it more and more as my hands moved to her lower back and I felt the delicious curves of her sublime body. My instincts were on overdrive. I wanted more than just to kiss. Yet some part of me, perhaps that sliver of chivalry that wasn't worth much given the circumstances, reined in my impulses. Leah, too, saw where this was going and pulled away reluctantly. She said, "Okay, not here, not yet, I'm not ready."

"You're right, I don't think I am either."

"It's not just that." She stepped back now and looked at me earnestly.

I asked, "What's the matter?"

"A lot's happened here, a lot's been said. I meant all of it, and I don't regret this, but it's a lot to take in."

"I understand."

"No offence, but I barely understand, and that's what I need right now. I need to get my head straight and think about where to go from here. Before I met you, in fact, just yesterday, I loathed vampires. I hated the Cullens in particular because I convinced myself that they'd stolen my last few connections with my kind. Now I have to get to grips with all of a sudden feeling the exact opposite. I've put my life on hold for years now. I've been frozen…and alone and as ironic as this is, I need just a little space, or I'll just get overwhelmed."

I could relate. The moment we'd stopped kissing and started talking, I was immediately hit full force by her invigorating odour. My body tingled as I drank it deep into my lungs. It wasn't that I hadn't noticed it while we were in intimate contact, if anything, it was even more sweet-smelling, but when I was with her that way, it overrode my hunting instincts. Now my hunger was back with a vengeance. If I didn't get some distance myself, I doubted that I had the strength to hold back. I thought to myself just hold out a few minutes longer and then you can go hunt something else.

_But her…that smell, it's delectable, it's mouth-watering…_

"Okay,"I said abruptly, simultaneously answering Leah and quelling that train of thought.

She seemed a little stunned. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, I just…I-I need to hunt, I need to do it now. Your smell is just…"

"You mean I don't smell like a dog to you?"

"No, of course not, you're like…a meadow in full bloom."

She actually blushed at that. I hadn't meant for it come out quite so flatteringly or, as Emmett might have described it, so mushy. I'd forgotten in that moment what her kind was supposed to smell like to vampires. I thought of all the derogatory comments about them smelling like dogs, comments that I'd even made to Jacob. I thought that I might even get a little irritated if anyone were to say those things again. She stepped back a little and said, "Perhaps we both need some air."

I nodded in affirmation, trying not to open my mouth. She started to walk away, in the direction of the reserve it seemed. I risked letting myself breathe because I had to ask. "When will I see you again?"

She considered that with a slight smile as though she were happy I wanted so much to just be in her presence. She replied, "Let's make it tonight, before sunset."

"Where?"

"Well with that nose of yours, I'm sure you'll find me. By the way, a few more comments like that last one wouldn't go astray."

Despite her odour drawing me to her like a magnet, I managed to smirk, albeit a little shyly, before holding my breath again. I saw her smile sweetly as she turned away, disappearing into the trees. It was so incredibly hard not to follow, not merely because of my instinct to hunt but something stronger, something so much more enticing, drew me to her. I thought then that the only force powerful enough to keep me away from her was her asking me to, barring that, it would take death itself.

After more than an hour trying to track down something sizeable enough to satiate my unrelenting hunger, I had to make-do with a rather scrawny doe. Drinking its blood was entirely unsatisfying. Its odour was like that of a compost heap in comparison to Leah's. It was like knowing the fragrance of absolute perfection but then having to shove my face in the leaf litter at my feet. I cast the doe's carcass aside disdainfully when I'd finished and headed straight back to the house. The time was half eight. I was supposed to be in school in half an hour. I supposed Edward's driving would have gotten me there on time, but then I had totalled his car. Even though we'd settled some of our differences, I didn't believe he'd like me as a passenger in any car he was driving for the foreseeable future. I knew as well that everyone was waiting with bated breath for me to return, and I didn't have time to answer a million and one questions. Surprisingly, though, when I came in the door, I found the vast living area empty. I was a little put out by that until Esme appeared out of the kitchen. She regarded me with a look of admonishment but not seriously so. She said, "Am I going to have to set a curfew?"

"Ah, I'm sorry I'm so late. I really needed to hunt."

"Is that all?"

I was mortified. I thought I'd either have to hide behind something right then or just collapse in on myself. Esme laughed adoringly and said, "I was only teasing, Jason. You're a good boy, I know nothing inappropriate happened."

Right then I felt guilty and somewhat ashamed. She obviously held me in much higher esteem than she should. If only she knew how close things had come to getting _out of hand_ shall we say. Perhaps we were never going to cross that line anyways, but it sure felt like it. I asked, trying to change the subject, "Where is everyone?"

"I sent them away. You know what would have happened the second you got back. They'd have smothered you with questions for hours and then they'd want to get into an intense discussion about it, with you available for input. Really, they are all such gossipers. Personally, I think this is a private matter for you and Leah to work through. At least Edward, Bella, and Jacob have some understanding of the concept of privacy, though I think Jacob just understands what Leah's going through."

"Does that mean I should expect my interrogation when I get home?"

"I can only keep them at bay for so long."

"Oh well, I suppose I should just accept my fate."

"Indeed, best be off before one of them, likely Emmett, loses control and comes in here blabbering at you. I'm sure they're lurking around nearby."

"No, we're not." Emmett's voice, off some distance from the house but easily within earshot for us.

Esme sighed, casting her eyes to heaven and said, "Your clothes are fine. Just grab your bag and go. Carlisle will drop you off on his way to work."

I nodded and swiftly ran upstairs, returning a few seconds later with my bag. Esme came up to me saying, "Just a moment, Jason."

She first fixed my collar, which had flared up Elvis Presley style and redid the top two buttons on my shirt. She cocked an eyebrow at that and then focused on my hair. She smoothed it out in a few places and then removed a twig. She examined the offending tree limb like it was the smoking gun for some wrongdoing I'd committed. She only said, "Hmm…"

"Hunting, I swear." Said too fast and with too much emphasis.

Esme chose to ignore that until she said, "Jason, weren't you wearing a jacket when you left earlier?"

"Ah, yes…"

"Where is it now?"

"…With Leah…"

"Why does she have it? She was hardly cold, was she?'

"Am, no, she had, am, a shapeshifting mishap…"

"Ooh, _saucy_!" Emmett again followed by the collective sniggering of Alice, Rosalie, and Jasper.

Esme had an expression as if she'd just smelled something rather putrid. I could only look at the floor wishing it would open up and swallow me.

_Oh, God, take me now_.

Esme closed her eyes and shook her head as if dispelling some impure thought. She then said, "Never mind, Jason, unlike that lot, I really don't want to know. Let's not keep Carlisle waiting."

I felt even guiltier then as though I'd disappointed her. I realised, though, it was Emmett and his cronies who Esme would have words for as she stared in their general direction out the window with crossness. I wanted out of that traumatic situation so badly that I flew out the door at vampire speed and almost ripped the passenger side door off Carlisle's car getting in. I was surprised it survived me slamming it closed, too. For good measure, I looked at Carlisle and said, "Drive!"

He did a very good job of concealing his mirth but the corners of his lips still turned upwards slightly. He was a saner driver than Edward was, but he still had me outside the school with ten minutes to spare. He said, "Try to have a good day. Esme will do her best to rein them in."

"Carlisle, this is Alice and Emmett we're talking about."

"Fair point, which raises the issue of who will collect you today."

"Ask Edward, please!" I couldn't have sounded more desperate.

"Well, you have a phone, and all our numbers are programmed into it. Why don't you ask him yourself?"

"O-kay, I'll give it a go."

"He knows what you're facing. I think he'll be very accommodating. Well, I must be off to work and you need to be in class in five minutes so off you go. Hopefully, we'll get a chance to talk later this evening."

"Thanks, Carlisle, till then."

When he had driven out of sight, I whipped out my _iFone_. I scrolled down the short list of numbers I had which only included the Cullens, Jacob, and my few friends from school.

_Hmm, I haven't even asked Leah for her number yet. Why does that seem so important?_

I started to think about her, the sound of her voice, her hair, her eyes, the feel of her skin, her lips, her smell…

_Her smell…_

I caught myself before I actually started to salivate. I shook my head and pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind. This wasn't appropriate thinking on the school premises. I knew I had to leave such thoughts behind me just for the next few hours or I'd end up embarrassing myself with some stupid grin on my face or by walking into a door. As I stared at Edward's number, I hesitated. Yes, we were on better terms, but better didn't necessarily mean good. Then, a thought came to mind, me sitting into Alice's car to be assaulted by questions that would have made the ones Maggie asked me back at Fiona's place seem tame. Then, there was the other scenario, what if Emmett was the one picking me up?

_Oh Holy Christ, no!_

I hit the call button so hard that I thought that I nearly broke it. It only rang once. "_Hello, Jason_."

That took me by surprise. I didn't expect him to also have my number, and he didn't seem annoyed that I was calling him, but I decided to reserve judgement until I'd seen how this conversation went. I replied, "Hi, Edward, sorry to bother you so early."

"_Jason, we're vampires, there's no such thing as 'early'_."

_Was that banter? _"Yeah, yeah, of course, listen, I hate to do this, but I need to ask a favour."

"_Yeah, I thought you might_."

"Sorry?"

"_Esme filled me in about the teasing you suffered this morning_."

"Oh…"

"_Indeed, she was quite irritated with my siblings, which may be why they haven't returned home yet. She was also adamant that none of them pick you up_."

"Ah…"

"_So three-o-clock outside the school?_"

"Thank you, Edward, you're a lifesaver."

"_What's family for? Don't worry, one of us will always rescue you from Alice and Emmett_."

"It might be futile in the long run."

"_Even a momentary respite is worth it, believe me. See you at three_."

"Till then."

The line went dead then. Thinking of the difference between that conversation and our car drive that day the previous week almost gave me whiplash. I hurried to get to English before the start of class. Mr Mason was already seated at his desk, but I wasn't the last student to arrive. I hung up my coat and went to my seat quickly to avoid drawing his attention. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be. "Mr Culhane, are we forgetting something?"

"Sorry, sir?"

"Well, you'll have a hard time partaking in class without a book to follow, a notebook to write in, or a pen to write with."

It was then that it dawned on me that I hadn't gone to my locker before coming here. Mortification was barely apt for what I was feeling at that moment. I stood and made for the door with my head down followed out by the sniggering of my classmates.

And the unpleasantness just kept on coming.

I cheated a little to get to my locker and back fast, for Mr Mason sure as hell was not going to wait for me before starting class. It was there that I had the distinct displeasure of running into Madelyn in an empty corridor. She was dressed as per usual in rather skimpy attire given the weather outside. She sauntered towards me while I was at my locker. "Hi, Jason, running late?"

"Ah yeah, you, too?"

"Nope, just haven't bothered to turn myself in to my prison cell yet."

"Okay…well, see you at lunch."

"Jason, could you give me a minute?"

"I'm really running late…"

If it weren't for my vampiric reflexes, I would never have been able to dodge her puckering lips as she neatly sidestepped in front of me and pressed me against the nearest wall. My initial evasion didn't seem to put her off much so I gently pushed her back until she was an arm's length away. She looked stunned. Clearly, she hadn't experienced any kind of rebuff before. She conveyed as much when she said, "Seriously, what's your damage, Irish? I am literally throwing myself at you."

_Irish? Seriously? _Nevertheless, I tried to be diplomatic. "Sorry, Madelyn, I don't think this is the time or place."

"Are you kidding? We're alone in a school hallway when we should be in class. Most guys would have their tongues hanging out just at the thought of it."

"I just don't think this is…appropriate…"

"_Appropriate? _Are you gay?"

"What? No!"

"Then what kind of guy are you? Not even my dad says 'appropriate'."

"I'm…seeing someone."

"Ugh! Please, what girl in this school could you want more than me?"

Well, you could never accuse Madelyn of having a low opinion of herself. I replied, "She doesn't attend this school."

"Ha! A likely excuse, I've never known a guy to play hard to get, especially not with me. I can't say I'm enjoying it. For a moment, I was feeling some compassion for what guys have to go through to get in us girls' pants, but then I remembered how fun it is to make you lot sweat."

"Ah…that's nice to know…"

"Yeah, well, you've ruined my buzz so don't bother changing your mind now, and I'd been so looking forward to getting you alone since you took your top off at La Push. Oh, well…"

She held my eyes for a few moments longer as if to convey that if I were to reconsider, she'd actually still be so up for it. It was at that moment I heard footsteps approaching from an adjoining corridor. Whoever was coming was wearing very soft footwear, but I could hear them clearly. Madelyn couldn't, however, so when she turned away from me, I dashed off towards Mr Mason's class at vampire speed, leaving her to face the music. I heard her argue her case with some teacher whose voice I didn't recognise. She even tried to implicate me as the impish boy who'd lured her out into the corridors and kept her late trying to tempt her into making out in a corner. She chose more colourful language to describe the event, but the teacher was having none of it and promptly sent her to the principal's office. I felt a little guilty but at the same, I hoped it might dissuade her from being so forward with me in future.

It was difficult to concentrate on Shakespeare's flowery and dated language in the _Merchant of Venice _when I had thoughts of Madelyn's advances swirling in my head. It wasn't that I enjoyed her attentions, but it was seriously an embarrassing encounter and not just for me, although, I doubt Madelyn saw it that way. Those thoughts quickly melted away when Leah returned to the forefront of my mind. Madelyn's botched attempt to come on to me definitely gave me some perspective. Leah definitely was an amazing woman and not just to look at. Despite her depression, I knew there was incredible strength in her, something she had simply lost touch with, not lost completely. I was just itching to talk to her, to know the person who I was choosing to spend possibly a lifetime with. I wanted to know everything about her, about her past, her feelings, I wanted to understand it all. I'd never known such unbridled curiosity before. It was as if the sensory side of the blackness had melded with my personality.

_God, why do I have to be here? I want to go find her. I want to feel that way again…_

"Mr. Culhane, _Mr. Culhane!_"

I snapped back to the stark reality of being in Mr. Mason's crosshairs whilst the rest of the class had turned to stare at my dumbfounded expression with amusement. I was just able to catch a glimpse of the clock to my right fast enough that Mr. Mason wouldn't catch me. The last time I'd looked was after I'd gotten back from my locker already ten minutes late for class. It was now half past, and I didn't remember a single moment since I'd sat down, since I'd started thinking of Leah.

_I'd been daydreaming._

That wasn't something I'd done before, except if you counted my blackouts when I saw Fionn. I'd just always been too alert and too aware to ever allow such a lapse in attention. I guess I truly felt at ease for the first time in my life, or perhaps kissing Leah had been just that good. Even thinking the words drew me back to that moment, but Mr. Mason's nasally voice was hard to ignore. "Mr. Culhane, would you like a moment alone with yourself?" That earned a few giggles from the class.

I replied, "No, sir, sorry, I'm fine."

"Wonderful! So do you think you could answer my question then?"

"What question?" _Shit! _

I knew as soon as the words came out of my mouth that I'd fallen right into the trap. He knew I hadn't been paying attention, which was the only reason he'd asked that question, to catch me out. I cursed myself some more internally. He replied, "Mr. Culhane, this is English class, not nap time. Most of Mr. Cullen's children did exceedingly well with me. I'd hate to have to make him disappointed in his nephew when the parent-teacher conferences come around."

Well that stung. I wanted to say he'd love nothing more than to report my underperformance to my "uncle". I got the impression he was the kind of mean-spirited teacher who revelled in his student's failure rather than their success. He just wanted any opportunity to knock people over the head with how wrong they were. Of course, he had to maintain appearances and the grades of his students, so just for good measure, he repeated the question to me. "So, once more, what is the name of the woman seeking a suitor?"

_Phew! That one's easy._ "Portia."

"Correct, and who is her first suitor?"

"I-ah…I don't know."

"Well, Mr. Culhane, that's what paying attention is for. I suppose peeking at your book works, too."

To be honest, I didn't even realise my book was open in front of me, but I hated his suggestion that I only knew the answer to the first question because I'd peeked. I'd lucked out with our play as I'd already studied it in my third year of secondary school back home. I'd skipped transition year and gone straight to fifth year like most students in my school in Galway, so I still remembered the general gist of the play. Still, given how little regard I gave English class and how fogged up my human memories were, the details escaped me. Technically, I'd started two years behind where I'd been back home, so I hoped that would give me some edge, as long as I could keep my head about me.

The last half hour of English just dragged, and I couldn't get away from Mr. Mason's accusatory eyes fast enough. I knew I could relax in Spanish, even in spite of Joshua. I was finding learning the language only a little taxing whereas back home when I'd been forced by school policy to endure both French and German for the first three years of secondary school, I'd found languages gruelling. I failed German in my first state exams and only got a C minus in French. That was fairly dire considering I did them both at ordinary level. Even my native tongue, Irish, was a case of hit and miss for me and I scored similarly in it to French in my exams. I was sure my experience of Spanish was being tainted by my new and improved vampire mind, but it somehow seemed more fluid and harmonious than those other tongues. Still, curiosity was spurring me into considering revisiting those subjects, which had defied my comprehension, at some point in the future to see if now I could maybe even become fluent.

_I have the time._

The day dragged on and despite having evaded Joshua's verbal vomit in Spanish and Biology, it was time to face the music. As per usual, everyone bar Madelyn bought what they considered to be foods that were least likely to arouse my allergies. Largely, they were healthy options, though I'd never specified beyond a few random examples what I needed to avoid. Madelyn was munching on some fried chicken wings and a side of fries. Joshua eyed her plate and said, "Geez, Madelyn, where do you put it?"

She replied with a full mouth, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Calm, girl, I only meant you look pretty good for someone who eats deep fried food daily."

"Must be her metabolism." I added.

I noticed she refused to make eye contact with me and was eating rather fast. Perhaps cocky, confident Madelyn wasn't as secure in herself as she'd led me to believe. Silence stretched for a few minutes after that until Madelyn excused herself. It seemed a bit circumspect, but I didn't feel comfortable discussing it or following her. Joshua, as attentive as ever, quickly changed subject. "So, Jason, we never saw you after we left La Push. What happened to you? You seemed a little shook after your whole superhero to the rescue act."

_Bitter much? _"Yeah, I was just a bit wiped out by the whole thing. Just needed some rest and quiet time."

"Thought as much, I mean you ran pretty fast and swam really hard to save that like super-hot chick. Like, I so could have done it, too, but I guess you were quicker off the mark."

_Definitely bitter_. "Sure, of course, well, someone had to do something."

"So, the girl, was she grateful?"

"Ah, she was semi-conscious when I brought her ashore. She wasn't in much condition to say thank you."

"Yeah but you must have seen her since. She must have wanted to thank her saviour by now. Anyways, I'd want more than a thank you after going to that much trouble for some broad with a death wish."

I stifled a growl. I wondered was it the enraged twitch or the way my eyes threatened grievous bodily harm, but he went paler than me when I looked at him. He'd gone too far. This wasn't something to joke about, and I wouldn't have anyone mocking Leah for her depression never mind having him comment about her like she was a piece of meat. Joshua was getting a little too much for me. I felt instinctual urges rising within me, but they weren't the usual ones, they seemed to be connected with Leah somehow. I was tensed like I was having an adrenalin rush. All I knew for sure was that I wanted to protect her from what I perceived as a threat. However, I didn't trust myself to limit her defence to just words. That deer I'd had that morning had been most unsatisfying and even if I didn't bite Joshua, any action on my part would at least do him serious injury. I tried to calm down, but I couldn't. I didn't trust myself right then, I was too angry and feeling my thirst too much. I stood and stalked off without a word. When I exited the cafeteria building, I went around a corner to a deserted space and tried to get a hold on myself. It was too much. I was so mad. I just wanted to break something. Human odours started to fill my airways, everyone's individual scents so enticing. I was surrounded by hundreds of potential prey, I wanted their blood, human blood, not some animal's. I wanted to be the predator I once was. Then it occurred to me why I had started to feel this way.

_Leah…_

She wouldn't want this. Could she really love a murderer, even with the imprint? Yes, I had killed before but never an innocent. The thought of how she might look at me, how she might end up on the path to destroying herself again because of what I might do here…it wasn't enough. My emotions were already a runaway train. This was what I had not properly experienced before, this is what I had barely under control ever since I started this new life. This was what it truly was to be a newborn. No emotional control, no reason, only thirst. A simple, petulant comment had wrought this; my instincts to protect Leah had unravelled all my control, my restraint. I couldn't understand how anyone could exist like this, but I supposed then I knew how Dermot and even Fiona must have felt in their first year. I knew my resolve was about to fail. I couldn't bring myself to run. I wasn't strong enough. I needed help, but who could I turn to. It was then that the worst came to pass. Isaac walked out from around the corner. He caught sight of me trembling with what he probably thought was anger. It was something so much worse. I screamed in my head for him not to come closer, but just like his brother, he didn't fear me like he should have. "Jason, are you okay? I'm sorry about Joshua; he can be a serious brat sometimes."

I tried to hold my breath to no avail. I tried to rouse the blackness to seal my airways with limited success. Despite my anger, despite the tortuous bloodlust that had caught fire in my throat, I was also terrified. I was afraid that after so many close calls that this would be the final straw. This was what I'd do to lose everything, and it wouldn't just be me who'd suffer, the whole family would pay the price for this. I had so much more to lose then, too. I was almost within reach of some completion, some happiness that I'd never before had in my life. I absolutely had to beat this. With that, the blackness intensified just enough to partially block my airway. It was no fix, just a stopgap. That was all I needed, though, a moment's clarity, to say, "Isaac, my phone…ring last number dialled…please…" I threw it to him, and he fumbled before getting a grip on it.

He looked perplexed and asked, "Why, Jason, what's wrong?"

"Re-Reaction…" I looked at him meaningfully.

To his credit, he understood my meaning almost immediately, and the idea that I might be going into shock just like Joshua had joked about made him act all the more rapidly. It helped as well that my partially blocked throat made me sound hoarse. He hit the call button without checking the ID and waited for the ring. It only did so once. "_Hello, Jason, are you okay?_" I could hear Edward's voice was raised with anxiety.

"Am, ah, this is Isaac, Isaac Weber."

"_Isaac? Why do you have Jason's phone?_"

"He asked me to call you. He thinks he's having a reaction."

"_Yes, yes, we know_."

"You do?"

"_Yes…we realised our latest delivery of prepared meals had damaged packaging. Jason might have had some this morning. We're already on our way to take him to our father_."

"Should he not be going to hospital?"

"_Carlisle is as good as. Isaac, you might want to give Jason some breathing room. Maybe you should go inform your principal about what's happened and that we'll be taking Jason_."

"Is it okay to leave him alone?"

"_We're literally thirty seconds away. It's all right, we'll take care of him_."

"O-kay…"

"_Thank you, Isaac_."

The line went dead. Isaac glanced at me once and saw how vehemently I was urging him away. I felt bad, he was only concerned, but he needed to get far away from me very, very fast. He turned and headed for the main office. He was barely out of sight when Edward appeared beside me and not a moment too soon. Without a word, he threw my arm around his shoulder and literally dragged me away at full speed. My instincts told me to resist my competitor, to return for my prey, but I closed my eyes and thought of Leah, thought of our moment together in the forest. The sensations, the emotions, the curiosity, the potential I saw there, all of it flooded back in, drowning out my thirst for the most part. When I opened my eyes again, I was standing on the side of the highway with Alice's car parked in front of me. Edward asked, "Are you okay here?"

As soon as I thought about it, my thirst came rushing back. We were weren't far enough from town, and the human odours were still wafting in the air. I scrunched up my face as I tried to hold my breath and shook my head. I shot towards the car and jumped in. Edward wasn't far behind. I said, "Please, drive, take me where there aren't people, quickly, before I lose it again."

The car roared into life with the turn of the ignition and raced down the highway. We were up to one hundred miles an hour in about fifteen seconds. Forks and its aromatic allure fell far behind. I risked breathing then, and all I could smell were vampire scents. I let my head fall against the headrest, placing my hand on my forehead as I closed my eyes in despair.

_I thought I was better than this._

"Don't beat yourself up, Jason."

"Are you reading my thoughts?"

"Well, you're mentally kicking yourself very loudly."

"I can see how that could get really annoying."

"I get that a lot."

"Well, what do you want, seriously? I was moments away from going on a murderous feeding frenzy, and Isaac would have been the first to go."

"You give yourself too little credit, Jason. Bella was the only newborn I'd known to be in complete control, at least most of the time, there was that incident with Jacob, which I can tell you about another time. That came out of preparation, though. She knew exactly what she was getting herself into and so the experience wasn't such a shock to her. Most newborns are hurled headfirst into this life, thrown in the deep end not knowing how to stay afloat let alone swim. That nearly always means that their hunger and baser instincts overwhelm them from the get-go. Most of the few short months you've been in this life, you've stayed fed and kept the worst of your hunger at bay with your ability. All that happened today is that you got angry while you were still unsatisfied. It was bound to happen eventually."

"…Still, this was unacceptable. Maybe Esme was right. Maybe I am rushing things. I need to give myself a chance…"

"You don't really mean that."

"Excuse me?"

"It was a lapse, Jason, a bad one, yes, but no harm, no foul. All you need is to keep fed, and, well, I can advise you on the cause of your outburst, if you're comfortable with it?"

I looked at him sideways and got extremely uncomfortable. I got the feeling I was about to get advice that no person wants to hear from a parent or older sibling. I suppose, though, Edward was no Emmett, so perhaps he might be a little more delicate in his phrasing at least. Still wary, I replied, "All right, but no funny stuff. I got enough of that from Emmett."

"Indeed, really, how did you stomach his description of imprinting?"

"Okay, I was seriously watching my thoughts, how do you know about that?"

"You're careful with your thinking, but Emmett has a tendency towards smugness sometimes and he was very pleased to have come up with using your ability to soundproof your room. He thought about it quite a lot."

I sighed, casting my eyes to heaven. _Oh, Emmett_. I then said, "Okay, hit me with it, why did I almost go Jason Voorhees on my classmates?"

"Nice reference, anyways, vampires develop deep attachments with their mates over a relatively short space of time. I guess it's because our emotions tend to be more intense than those of humans. For instance, in the Denali Coven, friends of ours I'm sure you'll meet, two of the its members, Garrett and Kate, fell for each other over the course of our gathering in preparation to confront the Volturi. They are inseparable now, always off on one adventure or another. I'm sure if anyone ever crossed either of them, the other would come down on the offending party like a tonne of bricks. It is simply the breadth and depth of our feelings for each other that lead to these strong connections and therefore, protectiveness."

"But it's not like Joshua hurt Leah or made any direct insults, he was just being very _offhand_ talking about her like that." I felt the simmering heat from earlier reach boiling point in my head as I thought back to that conversation.

"See, you're getting angry again as we speak. It's just part of being a newborn. Most vampires don't meet their mates as soon as you have. You're emotions are even harder to control."

"It's not good enough. If I'm to be a functioning part of this family, I have to be able to live as you do. I've done the whole vigilante thing, and I'm not proud of it. I lived off blood bags because I thought it was the only moral way I could live. I was alone for months as an animal feeder, and I came across people, but I never gave in. I don't want to go back to the way I was."

"Maybe it would reassure you to learn that I almost reverted myself at the age of one hundred and nine."

I snapped my head around to face him. "_What?_"

"It happened the first time I met Bella, back when she was human. I was sitting in Biology when she came in the door. Her scent reached me, and I was immediately overwhelmed. The longing for her blood was...irresistible, almost anyhow. I had the misfortune to be at the only table with a free seat. For an hour, I endured her overpowering aroma, feeling at any moment I would snap and ruin everything for myself and my family. When class ended, I ran and tried to have my schedule changed, but it was too late. I didn't think I could resist if I met her again, so I stayed with the Denalis for a week, trying to work up the strength to go back."

"Can I ask why you found her scent so...enticing?"

"Her smell was like the sweetest, most intoxicating aroma I had ever encountered. It drew me to her, tugged at my most basest instincts, I had to have her. She was like..."

"A drug, your own personal heroin."

"Eerie, that's exactly how I described it to Bella. People who attract vampires like that are referred to as singers because their blood literally sings to you, calling you to feed. Have you by any chance met someone like this before?" He asked as though he was making me recall some dreadful incident from my early days, but, of course, it was nothing like that at all. It was much, _much_ worse.

"Leah..."

"Excuse me?"

"Leah, she's my singer."

Edward was speechless for a few seconds before replying, "I didn't think that was possible. I thought they all smelled like animals, no insult intended."

"No, that's what I thought, too."

"Okay...I'm going to ask something. You'll have to forgive me, it was hard to ignore your thoughts as I pulled you away from the school, but you were focussing on Leah very intensely, on your _time_ together..."

The way Edward cautiously broached the subject, the way he seemed so embarrassed as he emphasised the word "time", just made it very real that this guy was from a completely different time. Even so, I was hardly nonchalant about the subject. In fact, I felt so guilty not having considered him and his mind-reading at that moment. I basically subjected him to a full moment by moment account of mine and Leah's "time" together. My hand went to my forehead as if to hide my face. I said, "Oh my God, Edward, I'm sorry. I didn't even think, or I did think, way, way too much! I'm sorry, it was all I could do to distract myself."

"No, it was a fairly effective distraction. I used thoughts of family, though, to distract myself from hurting Bella. Later, when I fell for her, it became easier to manage, especially when for twenty-four hours, I believed she had died. That was before the Volturi came when she was human. It's nearly impossible for most vampires to be in the presence of a singer and not feed. Take this as some comfort that what happened to you today is in no way exceptionally bad, and it's not just me. Emmett has encountered two singers in his time, one worse than the other, and unfortunately, he wasn't able to resist either of them. Even Esme slipped when she was a newborn and just a few years ago, Jasper almost killed Bella because she got a paper cut. My point is that it happens, but it is manageable. You just have remember that whenever it gets hard, and you feel like you're going to slip, you can call any of us, anytime. Someone will always be there to help you out. I can guarantee it."

"Thank you, Edward, you really helped me today. If I had hurt any of my friends, I don't know what I would have done."

"It's what makes us a family, Jason. It's what sets us apart from most others of our kind. We always have each other's backs. You can thank Alice, too. If it weren't for her, I might not have reached you on time. It was impressive that you managed to call me, though, given your state. You need to remember that you're stronger than you think."

"It's easy to be strong when you can seal off your own airway."

Edward shifted a little and looked discomfited by my comment. I then remembered Emmett's slip. Edward could perceive the blackness. I'd been meaning to ask him about that. Now was as good a time as any. "Edward, when I use my ability, what do you sense? What do you _see_?"

"Jason, I...I don't want to disturb you. Perhaps now is not the best time."

"Well now you have me intrigued in a kind of morbid way, so just tell me."

"When we met, I was trying to suss you out. We had never encountered a solitary animal feeder before, but we were still wary, in case you were a Volturi Trojan Horse. You understand how we have to have our wits about us in regards them."

"Yes, I certainly understand that."

"Well, when I tried to read your mind, it was like I was getting interference, like there was someone standing directly behind you. I knew that wasn't the case, but I couldn't get my head around it, until you used your ability as we approached the house. When you reached out, it was like you had let loose an animal from a cage. Your own thoughts were at once distinct from that animal but at the same time you were in control of it, like you had it on a leash, trained."

"So you're saying it is a separate entity?"

"Yes and no, I sensed only your voice inside your mind, your imaginings, yet it's like the blackness is a second mind of an entirely different kind, nothing like a human's or a vampire's. It is a part of you and in other ways, it's not. You are simply the one who is dominant."

"So, it's like I have dual personalities."

"Like I said, it's not like a human or vampire mind. I can barely sense it when you aren't using it. It's primitive, feral, like an animal's mind and yet with it, you can wield incredible power. You don't even realise yourself what you can do."

"You can sense that?"

"I can sense that when you use your ability, the blackness does not feel much exertion, though I do not believe that "feel" is the right word. I don't think words have been invented to adequately describe what the blackness is or does."

I inhaled and said, "Maybe you were right, I could have used a breather before you told me that."

"Are you all right?"

"No, I can't say I am. The idea that I might possibly be possessed isn't sitting well."

"I come from a very different time, Jason, and I'll admit that when I first sensed the blackness, demonic possession did come to mind. Yet, the more I've sensed it, I realise it's more akin to a symbiotic relationship than a parasitical one. You provide it with a place it can exist and, in return, it provides you with power a human, or vampire mind even, could never hope to possess."

"Okay, that's freaking me out. You're talking about it like it's a pet I keep on the inside."

"In a way..."

"Don't try to be funny, Edward. I haven't calmed down yet, remember? Crazy newborn and all that."

"All right, don't bite."

"Maybe I'll set my pet on you! By the way, I better not go back to the house and find that the pet thing has somehow stuck. It'll be hard enough to deal with Emmett and Alice without throwing dynamite at a bonfire."

"My lips are sealed."

"Where are we anyways?"

"Near the reservation."

"Why?"

"Don't you want to find Leah? You're thoughts have drifted to her every five seconds since we drove off."

"Edward, there are enough jokers in this family, calm yourself."

He laughed at that and replied, "We're all like that on some level, Jason, even you with your wise crack to Emmett back at the Webers' house. Even Esme has her moments, though, yes, Emmett and Alice do have exclusive rights to the lewdest remarks. Anyhow, it does keep things interesting."

"That's one way of putting it."

"So, shall I let you out here?"

"Do you not think it's a bad idea to go see my "singer" after what happened today?"

"Jason, the rage happened because of her, the lack of control just let your newborn instincts out to play when you've bottled them up pretty tight before now. You'll be fine."

"How do you know?"

"You love her, don't you?"

"I do."

"Then take it from me, if you love her, the thirst won't matter."

I was not as confident as Edward when he let me off at the side of the road. I entered the forest warily, not sure if I shouldn't just head straight home. Leah had told me to come find her, though, and there was nothing I wanted more. I wasn't anywhere near the cabins where the Black Pack lived, I was in Uley territory now. It was with that realisation that I caught the faint odours of others nearby. Some were animal-like, the shapeshifters but others…they were human.

_Oh my God, what has he done?_

Edward had left me within reach of the Quileutes. If the Uley Pack were not around, I would massacre them, and there would be war. Even if they were there, they would destroy me and the same would result. My only consolation was that I would be too engrossed in my bloodlust to ever raise the blackness against them. I believed that at any moment I would race towards those irresistibly sweet scents and begin my killing spree or meet my end, more than likely both. Yet, when I was managing to hold myself in place for a few seconds despite a change in the wind causing the scents to reach me more strongly, I let myself breathe. It was horribly uncomfortable. My body screamed at me to satiate my thirst, but I resisted. I tried to concentrate upon another scent. It was rich and almost as appealing as a human's but just not. I followed it immediately, slicing through the air and the forest undergrowth as fast as my legs would carry me. I instinctively darted behind a tree to hide myself from my quarry. It was then I saw them. A pack of four wolves feeding upon an old doe that they'd brought down. I was so thirsty and those wolves would more than satisfy my craving but as I looked at them, I could only think of Leah. With that, my thirst became not irrelevant but dulled, much more manageable. I realised if thoughts of Leah could dissuade me from feeding on these animals, then maybe I could keep myself from having any more outbursts around humans, but I just had to keep myself fed from now on. It was then that I sensed another form approaching from the direction of the reservation. I was hit by its odour, a sweet, flowery scent.

It was Leah.

She hadn't revealed herself. She was still in wolf form. She had to know I was there. I sensed her moving around randomly, just within earshot. This was a game. She wanted me to chase after her, to find her. I found that I was just holding on to my sanity. I knew closeness totally overrode my instincts when it came to Leah, but I could not play this game with her. I had to hunt. The wolves were not an option. I doubted the Quileutes would appreciate me killing them on their lands anyhow. I sensed the herd from which the doe had come was less than a mile away. I raced to intercept them. To my dismay, Leah had stopped running around me and was in pursuit. She had to stop. She could not be near me when I was hunting. I tried to ignore her presence, focussing all my senses forward on my intended targets. I blasted through some low shrubs and found myself in the midst of the herd on the banks of a river. The animals nearest me were too stunned to immediately react. I locked my arms around the neck of a doe and sunk my teeth into the point on its neck of greatest blood flow. I barely had it drained before I cast its body aside and was upon my next victim. This time, it was a young stag. Its blood was slightly more appetising with a greater volume coursing through its veins. It still wasn't enough. I chased down another doe and another and another until I'd practically decimated half the herd. In the end, there were ten lifeless carcasses scattered around me. Vampires suffer no maladies of any kind but having binged upon so much blood, I almost felt woozy and light-headed. That cleared instantly when I saw Leah standing at the tree line, staring at me with the blood drained from her face. I thought she looked frightened. I wondered had she been there to see my whole frenzy. I said, "Leah, I…"

"Are you okay?" She interjected.

I was wordless for a few seconds because I started to see that her expression was one of concern, not fear. I replied, "Yes, I am. I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"That you had to see that. I shouldn't have hunted while you were so nearby as well."

"How did you know it was me? I was trying to conceal myself from you, at least I thought I was."

"I could tell from your smell."

"Oh, that." She looked faintly shy.

I got even more bashful. I said, "It's just not a good idea for me to be thirsty when you're around. It's why I went straight for the deer. It was safer that way."

"Yeah, I can see that. You must have been quite thirsty."

"You don't seem perturbed or anything."

"I've hunted deer myself in my wolf form. I can't say I've seen a vampire hunt before. It was…scary in a way but impressive, too."

"I was going for gruesome and perverse."

"Whatever you say."

She stepped out onto the stony riverbank, gracefully rounding the carcass of the young stag and coming towards me. I couldn't help but admire her beautiful form, her lustrous hair framing her perfect face. However, as she came nearer, it was like her scent was pushing against me like a moving wall. I had fed enough, so I let her scent in just a little. It really was like a drug. I felt high and invigorated as it permeated my lungs, my whole body. She stood before me and I traced a line down her arm with my fingertips, her warmth seeping into me like liquid. She trembled just a little with my touch. I pulled away, asking, "Sorry, was that uncomfortable?"

"No, it's just…when you touch me, it's the only time my skin feels right, the only time I don't feel like a human torch."

I placed my palm against her cheek. She really was so amazingly beautiful. Many female vampires attained such extraordinary heights of beauty, Rosalie for example, that it would leave humans and even other vampires bewildered just to behold them. Yet, for me, they were but dandelions beside the most exquisite of orchids compared to Leah. I looked into her deep, dark eyes and asked, "I thought I was supposed to find _you_?"

"You took too long. I had to be near you again. I even called the Cullens' place. Edward answered. I asked him to tell you to come find me when you were out of school."

I smiled indulgently and said, "So that's why he dropped me off here.

"Ahuh."

"Well, here I am."

"Here you are. So what are we going to do about that?"

I started getting shy again. I hadn't been like this that morning. I guess I'd been so caught up in the new experience that I hadn't even thought about it. Now, however, I was reverting to myself a little. I couldn't blush, but my expression was clear enough to Leah. She said, "Are you getting shy? Let me guess, you're from one of those bygone eras when men and women barely held hands until they were married. That's very endearing, and I mean that in all honesty, but it's also very dated. Besides, you had no qualms about making out this morning."

"Am, Leah, I'm sixteen."

"Yeah, yeah, I know that's the age you'll be forever, but hit me with it, how old a man have I imprinted on? I can take it, even if you tell me you met Lincoln or something."

"No, Leah, I'm actually sixteen."

"…Sorry?"

"I've only been a vampire for eight months."

She stepped back then, eyes wide and a hand covering her mouth. Her voice was a little high-pitched when she said through her fingers, "_Sixteen?_" I nodded in the affirmative. Her hand went to her forehead and she laughed somewhat hysterically. She continued, "Oh my God, I made out with a sophomore."

"I'm actually a freshman. Everyone in Forks thinks I'm fourteen." She let out a little squeal when I said that. I said, "Correct me if I'm wrong but don't shapeshifters imprint on people much younger than myself, even toddlers?"

"Yes, but when their imprintee is that young, they feel a brotherly bond towards them or one of friendship. What I'm feeling for you is…well…I'm not feeling sisterly, let's just say that."

I chuckled and said, "Come on, Leah, there must be what, a few years between us? It isn't that bad."

"Jason, how old do you think _I_ am?"

"I'd guess seventeen or eighteen, nineteen at the most."

"Hmm, thank you, Jason, that's very nice of you to say, but I'm actually twenty-six."

"No way!"

"Yes way."

"But…how?"

"You're really good at the flattery, you know."

I stumbled on my words a moment with that comment but then said, "But seriously, you really don't look in your late twenties."

"It's to do with being a shapeshifter. Once I started changing form, I stopped aging. For me, it happened six years ago when I was twenty and unless I choose to, I will never age a day."

"What do you mean unless you choose to?"

"After a lifetime of shapeshifting or even several, most of my people decide the time has come for them to move on and make room for the next generation. It's a mental process, sort of hard to describe."

"But, if you wanted to, you could live forever."

"I could."

I sighed in joy and relief. I wouldn't outlive Leah. I wouldn't have to lose her in a few decades time. She simply had to remain as she was, and we could be forever. I took her hands and said, "You don't know how happy that makes me."

"Why?"

"I didn't know if you had a normal human lifespan or not. I was afraid I'd watch you grow old and die and then I'd just linger on without you."

She looked at me remorsefully. She said, "I'm sorry. That's something I should have cleared up straight off the bat."

"Don't fret, we've only met three times, and the last two didn't leave much room for conversation."

"There you go again."

"What?"

"You have a confident streak behind that shyness. I know it's early days, but you can be yourself around me you know."

"Well, I am, this is me, a bundle of unpredictability. Long story short, I'm a mess."

"That's something we have in common then. You know after the Volturi left, I tried my hardest to stop changing. I wanted to move on with my life. I wanted to go to community college. I wanted to get away from Sam and the packs. I just wanted some sense of normality. Yet no matter how hard I tried to stop, I could never find that off switch. The harder I pushed, the more I felt something within me push back. Eventually, everything set me off, every little annoyance, every little disagreement, I just ended up going wolf. It was like I couldn't escape it. I almost hurt my mother and brother a few times."

"What did you do?"

"I became the person who jumped off a cliff to get attention. I fell into depression alternated with rage. I'd change form and lose days as a wolf. I tried to lose myself in that world like Jacob tried once, but the voices of home haunted me. I'd isolate myself for weeks on end and then I'd come to my mother or brother in tears for no apparent reason. They both wanted me to get help, but I couldn't exactly discuss my issues with a shrink, and my metabolism burns through medication like I took placebos. In the last year, I've ended up sticking to being a recluse or running off without telling anyone. I missed my family, even my pack, but what hurt me was that they'd seemingly decided that I would be this way for the long haul and so, they moved on with their lives."

"I'm sure, Leah, they just didn't know how to help you."

"Maybe, but you see, even if they did, they wouldn't have been able to do it."

"I don't understand."

"They wouldn't have been able to make me imprint."

"Oh, so that's what held you back?"

"I realise now that I was holding on to one part of the magic of our tribe very tightly, the imprint. I guess I secretly hoped that one day I'd find that one person who I could give myself wholly to, to open myself up to again and not be hurt like with Sam. I was waiting for you."

My hand went to her cheek again. Gently, I pushed a strand of hair back from her face. Her eyes told me I'd barely scratched the surface, but I knew then that I would have an eternity to know her, not a finite number of years. I leant in and kissed her lips softly as she reached up, linking her hands around my neck, pulling me in. My hands went to her lower back, my fingers tracing the exposed skin just under her top. She pulled away and said, "You're really real, aren't you?"

"I hope so, are you?"

"Last time I checked."

"Maybe we're dead."

"Nah, heaven's got nothing on this."

"Hehe, well, I'd hate to take from the reality of this, but I'd like to show you something about me, something important."

"Oh?"

"Hold on, real tight, I've never tried this before."

I focussed the blackness into a flawless pane beneath our feet. It was thin but solid enough to support us both. It changed to a circle about the size of a truck wheel that spread out under us. Then, with a thought, I made that disc of blackness rise. We were several feet off the ground before Leah realised what was happening. When she did, she gasped and clutched on to me tighter. We started to rise faster. Leah seemed nervous, so I reshaped the disc into a basket much like on a hot air balloon. I said, "Don't worry, you can't fall off, even if you aren't holding me, see…"

I took a few steps rearward and I backed into my imagined basket. She relaxed a little when she saw she couldn't fall, even though to her eyes we were literally floating on air. By then, we were above the forest canopy and drifting past the pinnacles of the tallest trees. Leah was gobsmacked, reaching out to brush her fingers against leaves that no human had ever touched. A small flock of birds flew level with us nearby. She gasped again. She just said, "How?"

"Edward can read minds, Alice can predict the future, and I can…well, that's a long story."

She turned to me and said sweetly, "I have time."

I gave her a loving smile because that was all I was feeling in that moment. My hand instinctively reached for her cheek again. In our imaginary little craft, we drifted through the autumn air with the endless green drifting beneath and the glory of the sun shining down upon the magnificent mountain slopes up ahead. We were our own world and in it, we held forever.


	5. Chapter 5: Tempest

**TEMPEST**

It was pouring. The drops beat down like someone up in the heavens had turned the tap to full. Generally speaking, this was a typical day in Forks, but this time was different. Long before the weather forecasts had predicted it, Alice had foreseen the arrival of a powerful storm rolling in off the Pacific with Forks directly in its path. Her predictions were not specific, but she'd gleaned enough to know that this would a major weather event and would wreak havoc for the town. As soon as the information began to pop up on local television and radio, Bella had gone to make sure that Charlie had adequate flood measures in place. Carlisle went to warn the packs, especially the Black Pack, as their homes were on the bank of the river running behind the house.

As for myself, my concerns lied with Leah.

It had been a day since we'd last seen each other, a day since that magical moment of floating above everything, just the two of us. Leah had introduced me to her mother that day, after we'd returned to Earth. Sue Clearwater reminded me a lot of her daughter in appearance. She was simply more mature. Leah had forewarned me that she'd already discussed her imprint with her mother and whilst she knew Leah wasn't exactly in control of her choice that I shouldn't expect any immediate approval from Sue. That was like the understatement of the century. As soon as I stepped inside her house, I was met with her deep eyes, almost like Leah's but not quite. She seemed to be very apprehensive in my presence, and her expression varied from one of fear to resentment. For her comfort, I did not try to shake her hand or come too close, but she gave me a very wide berth anyways, trying to keep to the opposite side of the room if possible. Leah seemed upset, and I caught her eyeing her mother meaningfully. From what I could glean from her expression, they'd obviously talked this through, and Leah had higher expectations of our meeting. I decided I'd break the ice first. "Hello, Ms. Clearwater, I'm Jason Culhane. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Her eyes narrowed as if she sensed some dishonesty in my greeting. She became fidgety and shifted her weight a lot. I could hear her heart rate quicken, her breathing becoming erratic. She finally turned away and made for the kitchen sink. She got a fit of coughing before throwing up. The smell of the bile and vomit was revolting. I actually genuinely needed to step outside, but I withstood it for Leah's sake. Leah's disappointment vanished in a second as she ran to her mother's side. She said, "Mother, are you all right?"

"Yes, yes, I just haven't been feeling well lately. Look, Leah, I know I promised you I'd try my best with him, but I'm not feeling one hundred percent, and this is a lot to take all at once. I just need to get some rest."

"Mother, I think you should see a doctor."

"I'm fine, I just need to lie down. I just…"

Her voice dropped off as she turned away from Leah. She wavered for a second before her legs gave way. Leah screamed and turned her mother face up. She was unconscious. Leah took her pulse and said, "Jason, her heartbeat is really faint."

She wasn't wrong. I'd noticed the change as soon as she'd turned from her daughter. I zipped over to her mother's still form. I could use the blackness to figure out what was wrong but that would be very invasive and in this high-stress circumstance, I could see a thousand ways an internal exam with my ability could go wrong. Instead, I scooped her up in my arms and said, "I can make it to the hospital way faster than if we take a car or wait for an ambulance."

"Then go, go quickly."

I was out the door and bounding through the forest in a second. Even carrying her, I was able to avoid every obstacle, even leaping over a trench in the earth without juddering her too much. I realised as I was making my way that the decision to just pick her up and shoot off was rash. I didn't think Carlisle with approve of me moving her without consulting him first by phone. Yet something told me this was something that needed tending to immediately, so I sprinted onward. I reached the hospital approaching from the back so I wouldn't be observed. I then ran around the corner and through the reception doors. I just uttered, "I need help."

Carlisle must have heard me, for he suddenly appeared in reception. The nurses nearby seemed stunned, apparently thinking he'd been in a completely separate part of the building. He said, "What happened?"

"We were at Sue's place on the reservation. She became really anxious and got sick. Then she just passed out. I noticed her heart rate fluctuating a lot."

The nurses eyed me with perplexed expressions. I added, "When I was checking her pulse, that is."

Carlisle didn't give my slip much heed, probably deliberately so the nurses wouldn't put much import on it. He was busy, too, checking her pulse himself with a stethoscope. He then ordered a whole battery of tests and that she be taken to a bed in intensive care. A few seconds later, Leah arrived. She must have gone wolf because she was wearing different clothes to what she had on in the house, her usual shorts, string top, and zip-up sweatshirt. She came right to her mother's side and took her hand. She looked at Carlisle and said, "Is she all right?"

"I'm afraid I won't know what the underlying problem is until the test results come back, Leah, but I think all that has happened is that she fainted."

"Oh, I see…"

"I need to ask you a few questions if that's all right? The nurses will see your mother to the ward."

"Of course…" Sue was wheeled away by the nurses just then.

"Have you noticed any changes in your mother's behaviour, eating patterns, or sleep patterns?"

"I'll be honest; I haven't been in much of a position to notice any details like that lately. She's been very tired lately and rundown, but I thought that was because of me."

"I don't wish to burden you with any further guilt, Leah, but this may very well be stress-related. Was she under any strain when she fainted?"

"I-I had just introduced Jason to her."

"Well, if it is simply a case of her being overstressed, she shouldn't be in any immediate danger. I can contact you and let you know if she regains consciousness."

"Can I stay with her?"

"You're welcome to wait here in reception if you'd like until after we've run our tests. Then you can go up to the ward."

"Thank you, I'd like that."

I was about to move in to comfort her when Carlisle said, "Jason, you have to be more careful."

"What? Oh yeah, I'm sorry about the slip with Sue's heart rate, I'll watch myself in future…"

"No, no, I mean you and Leah."

"What? I don't understand."

"You have to remember in Forks you are known to everyone as my fourteen-year-old nephew, and Leah is a twenty-six-year-old woman from the reserve. If you were both human, your relationship would not only be deemed unacceptable by the townsfolk but also under the law."

"So I won't say or do anything to indicate we're together."

"Are you really going to be able to sit beside her through this without offering her any emotional or physical comfort?"

"…No."

"Then maybe it's best you go home and call Leah by phone."

"I can't just leave her here alone."

"I'm sure Seth and Jacob will be along shortly. I'm sorry to you both, but I think you have to agree that it's necessary to maintain our secret."

Leah was just about holding it together, and I couldn't reach out and take her hand, put my arms around her shoulder, nothing, all because there were too many prying human eyes about. It sickened me to my core. She was clearly upset enough about her mother without me having to stay away basically. She said, "We'll be back in a minute. Jason, the tree line."

I nodded in understanding, and we both stepped outside before darting into the cover of some nearby trees. She threw her arms around my neck almost immediately and held on tightly. I responded in kind, putting my arms around her upper back and holding her warm body to me. She was trying to stifle tears, but her efforts were well within my senses to detect. She said, "I'm sorry, Jason. I can't leave her."

"Don't apologise, Leah, you need to be here, and Carlisle's right, I'll want to comfort you in any way I can. We still have the secret of the coven and the packs to protect."

"It's so incredibly stupid." She exclaimed, anger and upset rife in her voice.

"I know it is but if we want to live in the human world, we have to live with their rules, even the stupid ones."

"This is all my fault."

"No, no, Leah," I pulled away and held her face in both my hands as she looked at the ground, "This isn't your fault. If anything, it's mine. She fainted because of me."

"No, Jason, you don't understand. I lied to Carlisle about how my mother has been lately because I was too ashamed. In the last few years, she's always had concerns about me. It has weighed on her, my bouts of depression, my disappearing, my short fuse when it came to shapeshifting, but she's had Charlie to lean on, and that's been enough in the past to keep her afloat…but I _have_ noticed things. She's lost weight. Some days she stays up to all hours and others she sleeps most of the day. She's sick a lot, too. She keeps getting the flu or whatever bug happens to be going around. Charlie and Seth know all this, but they probably haven't talked to me about because they figured I had enough on my mind. She's probably taken a nosedive since I jumped from the cliff. I just wish I'd been less selfish…"

At that point, she couldn't hold the tears back anymore. The warm fluid trickled down her cheek onto my hand. I brushed them away gently with my fingertips. I said, "Leah, your mother's condition isn't life-threatening, and I'm sure you both can talk things out when she recovers. You weren't selfish, Leah. You were in a very dark place from which you saw no way out. You felt abandoned by everyone close to you. Your mother doesn't blame you for how you felt, I'm sure of it. If anything, she'll understand because she's been there, too. She'll come through it like you have."

"But what if she's done herself harm, Jason? What if she's caught something or is really sick?"

"Then she's in the hands of the most experienced doctor in the world, unless you know someone else who's practiced for several hundred years."

She allowed herself a brief laugh at that and wiped the burgeoning tears from her eyes. She pulled me into an embrace again and said, "Thank you. I'm just so glad that I have you."

"Always, Leah, and you can call me on the hour every hour if you need to. Just when your mother wakes, please tell her I apologise for what happened and that I hope we can try to meet again."

"This isn't your fault either, Jason. I should've given my mother more time to absorb this, especially given what I knew, before introducing you. I'll admit she was sceptical to say the least when I went to see her first after our _moment_ in the forest. She even thought something had gone wrong with the magic of our tribe. I had to point out the Jacob-Renesmee example to prove that this was right."

"So when she wakes up, I'm not going to be in for an easy ride, am I?"

She patted my shoulder with mock consolation and said, "Well, your tough vampire skin will protect you from whatever nearby objects she happens to throw at you and just for her benefit, could you pretend that crosses, holy water, and garlic actually work in case she breaks them out?"

"Funny…not!"

She gave a short laugh again, her tears having dried, and said, "Listen, Seth's gonna be here any minute. I better get him up to speed before he has a panic attack. The secret won't matter much if he goes wolf in reception."

"This is true."

She leant in and kissed me soundly on the lips, her hands gripping my neck and my hair. It lasted but a moment, and I was reluctant to let go, but I could hear a car racing towards the hospital and two heightened heartbeats accompanying it. Leah pulled away, giving me a look of longing that said she felt the same urge to stay as I did before sprinting back towards the hospital car park to intercept her brother before he burst into the building in a panic. It was at the moment she disappeared from sight that I heard the first thunderclap. It was distant to be sure and for me that meant many, many miles off. Still, the sky was ominous. Dark grey clouds rolled overhead on a swift breeze that kicked up the leaf litter at my feet. I turned in the direction of home, feeling that perceptible change in the air as a storm bears down.

I came in the front door dripping from head to toe. Esme came out of the kitchen with furrowed brows before saying, "Stop right there."

"O-kay…"

"How did you get so wet?"

"It literally started pouring in the last thirty seconds before I got here."

"Well, wait here, I'll get you more clothes."

Esme zoomed upstairs just as Emmett, Alice, Jasper, and Rosalie came down from their rooms. There was no escape. Being wet didn't bother me as much as a vampire, but I had no intention of going back outside. I couldn't go to my room without getting wet on everything between the front door and there, and I wasn't ruining Esme's pristine floors and surfaces. I supposed this was going to happen eventually. Emmett and Alice were inevitably going to want the gossip, all the gory details, but given everything that had happened, I really wasn't in the humour. I was about to pre-empt their questioning when Emmett said, "Are you okay, man? We heard about Leah's mom."

"How?"

"Carlisle called ahead to Esme. Expect to be very mothered until this blows over."

"Okay then…"

"For example, we'll be postponing your interrogation to a more appropriate time."

Alice added, "It wasn't a decision made lightly but in the interests of propriety, we saw no other choice."

"Well, I thank you for your sacrifice."

"It's taking a lot of restraint, I'll admit. There are so many jokes and innuendoes that just have to be filed away for later use."

Emmett interjected, "And you know that those kinds of things are best served up fresh. It's just not going to be the same."

"I understand. This is all so very trying for you both. Do try to persevere, and you may leave me a mortified mess when the time comes." I gave them a slight smile.

Emmett narrowed his eyes and said, "Guys, are you hearing this? I'd say this guy's as cool as a breeze. Maybe we can begin the torture now after all."

"Emmett, don't even consider it." Esme was coming down the stairs at a human pace with fresh clothes in hand.

Emmett muttered, "Too late."

Esme eyed him steadily as she stepped around the group. She passed me a towel to dry off the excess water before giving me a pair of dry denim jeans and a plain blue t-shirt. She said, "When you're done changing, just leave the clothes here, and I'll throw them into the washing machine."

I was about to start stripping off my drenched clothing when I noticed no one was moving. "Ah, sorry, ladies, any chance of some privacy?"

Esme replied, "Oh, oh, of course, Jason. We'll wait in the kitchen."

Rosalie followed but Alice lingered behind with a smirk on her face. Esme said, "Alice, stop making him uncomfortable."

"Ugh, none of you are any fun."

When they were safely out of sight, I removed my t-shirt that clung to my skin like I'd smothered myself in glue before putting it on. My trousers were similarly adhered to me. I folded them both neatly and made sure they stayed on the mat in front of the door. It was just then that I noticed that Esme had included a pair of boxers with my dry clothes. The water had soaked all the way through, but I was hoping to just throw my dry clothes on over them and change again in the privacy of my room. I held them up. They were baggy, white, and chequered with winy-coloured lines. Emmett and Jasper had taken seats on the sofa. Emmett said, "Nice pants, man, clearly a mother's choice."

"Whatever, could you like turn the other way?"

"Come on, man, we're all guys here."

"Seriously, Emmett."

"All right, all right."

I decided to end this torment with haste, so I dried off any leftover moisture with the towel and changed my underwear in less than half a second. I donned my new clothes in an even shorter length of time. It probably looked rather hilarious to an outside observer, but there certainly better not have been any! I kept using the towel to dry off my hair when the ladies returned. Esme scooped up the wet clothes and brought them to the laundry room. I took a seat beside Jasper opposite Emmett whilst Rosalie sat beside him and Alice threw herself down on Jasper's lap. I draped the towel across my shoulders after a second before Alice said, "So, really, are you okay?"

"Yes…no, I guess this would be easier if we didn't have to stay apart."

"It's a sucky situation. The rest us look to be similar in age and, more importantly, people _think_ we are."

"I know, it means we can never really step out together in public, at least not in Forks."

Rosalie chimed in to my surprise; I guessed I'd always be a little taken aback when she spoke to me. "We all leave something of our real selves behind in this house, Jason, every time we go out that door and into their world. It's just the way it has to be."

"I know, I just wish it wasn't Leah that I had to leave behind. I mean I'll have to live two separate lives. I can't be with her at school or when I'm with my human friends. It'll only be when I'm home, when I'm here, when I'm being myself."

Jasper said, "There are some upsides to that situation. For instance, Alice and I can't be exactly as we want to be in public, we have to hold back…"

Emmett interrupted, "Sorry, Jasper, but human couples have that problem, too. Otherwise they'd all get arrested for public nudity and engaging in illicit acts in inappropriate places."

Alice said, "Emmett, we do no such thing, do we Jasper?"

Jasper looked faintly scandalised but replied, "No, no we don't. What I meant was that it's not like we can chase and play around at vampire speed. At least when you and Leah are together, it'll be spent as yourselves."

"I know what you're trying to get at, Jasper, but you still get to make physical contact, you still get to be together as more than what? Acquaintances?"

Emmett replied, "Maybe so, but think, you've only four years of high school left. After that, you'll be legal and fair game for Leah."

"Four years may seem like a short time to you, old man, but we of the twenty-first century generation have a slightly different concept of time."

"_Old man?_" That was accompanied by a growl.

Jasper said, "Oh dear, I think you might have gone too far, Jason."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Emmett, are you getting sensitive in your dotage?"

He stood abruptly and with a hand pointing to the door, he said, "All right, we're taking this outside."

"But I just dried off."

"Wet will be the least of your problems. You should be more concerned with how you're going to get the mud out of your ears and lungs when I bury you in the riverbank."

"Now, now, crankiness is not very dignified at your age."

His hands were like claws reaching for me at this point, but I could see he knew better than to start something in the house. I decided, though, that perhaps this joke had run its course. I said, "Okay, Emmett, calm. I was taking the piss. Besides, when you think about it, after Bella and myself, you're the third youngest in this family."

He actually considered that a second. He then replied, "You know, I'd never looked at it that way before. Hmm, well, fine, you're off the hook, but don't think that I'm not gonna get you for all your little digs one day, you cheeky whippersnapper."

"Bring it on…"

I was about to add granddad to that reply, but we all fell silent in that moment. We even stopped breathing. There was a deep rumbling coming from upriver. Esme appeared at the glass looking out upon the back garden that ran down onto the river. By now, the clouds had turned black and evening was all of a sudden night. The rain was pelting so hard on the roof that it was like standing under Niagara Falls with a tin sheet over your head. The rumbling continued, getting louder with each second that passed. Alice suddenly stood and said, "No, this wasn't supposed to happen."

Jasper asked, "What wasn't, dear?"

"It's a mudslide, a massive one running down the river. All my visions, none of them showed anything serious happening here."

We all ran outside into the back garden and were met by sheets of ran that came at us horizontally. We were able to withstand it despite the massive cedars that surrounded the house swaying dangerously, their branches grazing the ground and the house. The noise had become thunderous as we approached the river. It had already burst its banks with the surrounding soil crumbling in. Underfoot, the ground was a quagmire of sludge and debris. Esme looked distraught. She said, "It's never been this bad before. Alice, it'll reach the house, won't it?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Do we have much time?"

"Minutes at most."

"That might be enough. Everyone, let's try to move everything upstairs. We can at least save the furniture and our valuables."

I was the last to make my way back. I could see the riverside trees trembling upstream as the massive flow of mud, water, and debris made its way towards us. To think as supernatural beings, we were still powerless in the face of Mother Nature's fury.

_Or are we?_

I stopped just in front of the house. Just in that moment, the mudflow burst through the banks nearest the house, ripping them away in its torrent and continuing to rise. Two fairly sizeable trees were almost immediately uprooted and sent careening downstream as the mud engulfed them. The front garden with its perfectly manicured lawn literally disintegrated into the mudflow as the waterlogged soil just dissolved into its powerful flow. Water rose up out of the soil at my feet as it reached its capacity and could not absorb anymore. It reached ankle height, and I felt my feet sinking in as the water continued to rise. It was then that the blackness pulsed outward. I had no idea if this would work. Perhaps I needed more emotional distress to invigorate my ability. Just then, I looked in the window. Everyone was dashing about, trying to get everything upstairs before the water entered the house. The only person I really looked at, though, was Esme. She was desperately gathering every knickknack, ornament, picture, looking at everything and remembering where she got it, when, from whom, everything was of value to her. Esme could never have children of her own, but she treated everyone in this house like family, even me, a complete newcomer. This house was special to her. It was where her family had become complete with Bella and Edward finding each other, Renesmee coming into their lives, and perhaps she felt that way about Leah and me joining, too. I knew how much it would kill her to see this place ruined.

That gave me the push I needed.

The blackness extended out from its recess as a bubble. At first, it only spread about three feet in every direction, but the water, which had been just below my knee, was parted around me. I had to stretch the blackness to block the flood from the house. A wall would do no good for the water would just flow around it. The only thing for it would be for me to extend my bubble around the whole building, or at least the river-facing side of it. A barrier of that scale was not something I'd tried before. I had encased myself or two people at most in the past, but a house was a whole other order of magnitude.

_I don't know what you are, or if you understand my meaning, but it's time to put you to the test_.

It was probably a pointless gesture. Edward had explained that the blackness was a separate entity in ways but not a mind like ours. Nevertheless, what I willed to happen was coming a lot easier than I expected. There was minimal strain as my bubble expanded, encompassing first the side of the house facing the river and easily slipping over its roof before halting just beyond the front door. As it traversed the building, I sensed every minuscule fissure and flaw where water could conceivably break in or at least force that gap open wider. The blackness seemed to recognise that the mudflow was a powerful torrent of sludge carrying dangerous debris. Just that second, a massive tree ripped up by its roots collided with the barrier mere feet from my face. The blackness crumpled inwards before the tree pivoted against it and continued on downstream. By now, the others had realised what I was doing and had gathered in front of the window. I recovered quickly from the blow, but I realised that if too many impacts like that occurred that my barrier would fail. Already the water had reached a foot above my head where I stood and holding back all those millions of gallons of water was no small effort. A boulder rolling in the torrent grinded against the barrier in front of me, and I almost felt it rip like sheared fabric. Water sprayed at me briefly before I managed to seal the tear.

I could not keep this up, not for as long as I needed to.

Images began to flash in my mind's eye. The house was vulnerable and there was even the possibility of structural collapse as images of all the weaknesses the blackness had identified floated by like a photo collage. I saw some interpretation, a sense really of how much force was pushing against me, and it felt titanic. The picture I was getting was that the bubble I'd made was not the most ideal barrier for the task at hand. Something clicked then, I wasn't just seeing these things in my head; I was being _shown_. The blackness, it seemed, had a better "idea" if that was the right word. I took a few steps backward until I came against the windowpane. My bubble shrunk inward, and the water rushed forward. I had been in only one situation even remotely like this before. When Sophia had tried to crush Fiona and myself under the irresistible pressure of her own barrier back when we'd fought in the woods near Cratloe, it had felt like being underwater, under an immense, crushing weight. Therefore, the solution was the same. I drew the barrier in until there was no space between it and the outer walls of the house. I formed an encompassing wall in my mind rather than a bubble so I didn't have to exert myself protecting the roof and upper floor when the water hadn't reached there. It must have looked terrifying to others just inside. Eight feet of debris-laden mud seemed to be rushing right past the glass with me pinned against it. It was far more distressing for me. I couldn't breath. The blackness was pressed right against my lips, sealing them shut, and my nostrils were blocked off, too. I couldn't move, not without expending so much energy that I might lose my grip on my wall of blackness. Besides, where could I go but into the torrent? Instead, I just closed my eyes and waited for it to be over. Alone with my thoughts, I pictured the blackness as some kind of weed growing in my brain with its roots gripping my cerebrum whilst its stems and leaves sprouted out into the world to do my will. Perhaps weed was a bad choice of description, it wasn't a parasite, but in my mind's eye, it didn't look nice enough to be compared to a more attractive type of plant.

The stems and leaves I'd imagined suddenly started retracting. The blackness was returning to its recess. _No, no! Wait!_

I braced myself. I knew the flood couldn't hurt me, but the sudden pressure would undoubtedly shatter the window, and I'd be washed into the house on a tidal wave of mud. That did not happen, however. I opened my eyes. The flood had not fully receded, water still lapped at my feet, but its peak had passed. I looked around to assess the damage. The trees nearest the river were all downed or tilting precariously. The back garden was still submerged, but rocks and tree trunks had come to rest on its previously flawless slope. The house, however, was perfectly fine, not even a mud splatter on the walls to testify to what had just transpired. Esme was instantly before me followed closely by the others. Her eyes were filled with wonder, but mostly just gratitude. She pulled me into a hug and said, "Thank you, thank you, Jason, so much. You didn't have to put yourself at risk like that."

"It's okay, Esme, I was never in any danger. I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

The others all seemed almost as thankful as their mother, even Rosalie smiled at me, which left me a little disorientated. Then, I swayed as my legs buckled. Esme had a good grip on me, though, as she said, "Jason, what's wrong?"

"I feel suddenly very _tired_."

"Come on, let's get you inside…"

Darkness swept into my vision. I knew what was coming as that oil-like slick obscured the outside world from view. I was in another place and I was not. My ears were still alert to Esme's voice, to a vague sense of movement, I was aware of being carried. Yet I did not open my eyes to see and still, I found myself looking out upon a frozen vista. Snow crunched underfoot with withered grass poking above it in places. This expanse was wide and open with a tree line off in the distance in front and mountains behind. The place had a sort of unreality to it, as it seemed the horizon was curving away from me, and no matter how far I walked, the trees never appeared closer. The sun was setting in this imagined place and for the first time since becoming a vampire, I felt cold. My breath issued as a billowing cloud that broke upon a spectral face that materialised before me. I jumped back and inhaled with fright. The image became slightly more opaque as the outline of a body started to become apparent. Its mouth was moving as if it were speaking. I was getting colder. The sun had disappeared and darkness had suddenly swept in, but the sky was featureless, no clouds, no moon, no stars, just inky, impenetrable blackness. I could no longer see anything besides the ghostly form that drifted towards me like smoke on a zephyr. I shivered furiously, my joints stiffened, my breath becoming ragged. The spectre before me became solid in the blink of an eye. "_Fionn!_" I gasped through chattering teeth.

"Ready yourself."

"Wha-what?"

"It's coming."

"What is? What's coming?"

"Life…and death."

He looked left, my eyes followed. Leah was standing there flanked by two hooded figures in dark robes. "Le-Leah…" I uttered.

The scene, which on first impression looked like nothing but a still frame, suddenly became animated. Leah screamed viscerally as one of the figures held her arms whilst the other reached for her neck. "_Save them!_" She shouted.

I sat up in the seat roaring my defiance as I returned to reality with the sound of Leah's breaking neck still resonant in my ears. Esme held my shoulders, saying, "Jason, calm down. You're awake, it's okay."

The others were standing around in stunned silence. I knew why. They'd probably observed what Fiona and Dermot had before. I most likely appeared unconscious with rapid eye movement as if I were dreaming. I even may have acted out my vision by moving or "sleep talking". I'd told them everything about me that time after my first meeting with Renesmee. They knew of my sporadic visions. Seeing it, though, must have been something else, an experience very unlike watching Alice have a vision. I was still shaking from a combination of a lingering sensation of coldness and rage that anyone could or might hurt Leah. My last visions had led up to the death of my sister. Esme rubbed my shoulder and said, "Jason, it's okay. It'll be all right."

"No." I said that word with finality. I shook my head, looking down. "No, it won't."

After the mudslide, the river did subside but not by much. It still flowed high, carrying plenty of debris as the rain poured down incessantly. The mudslide had apparently been caused when a powerful storm band came up against the mountains and unleashed six inches of rain in a two-hour period. The already waterlogged soil collapsed under the weight of water and came rushing down the course of the river, leaving a gouge through the forest. The Black Pack was okay. Leah, Seth, and Jacob were obviously not at home at the time, and their cabins were positioned on slightly higher ground than the Cullens' house. Some floodwater and detritus still got in, but it was more a mopping up job than anything else. Edward called from Charlie's place as he and Bella were helping him prepare for any potential flooding. Charlie, as chief police officer, was very busy tending to emergency callouts, but he had inquired was the Cullens' place okay as the mudslide had apparently damaged a number of properties further downstream. It took a lot of convincing on Edward's part that the only damage was to Esme's back garden.

The storm was not expected to move inland for another day, and it would still be raining the following day. On the upside, school was cancelled for the students' own safety as travelling in this weather was horrendous, unless you were a vampire. Even so, the usual path from the house was a treacherous mud track after the rain, so driving was out of the question. The power was out as well, and so were some of the phones due to sporadic wind bursts bringing down power lines. Edward had reached us by the landline, but getting cell service was next to impossible. I tried ringing the hospital numerous times, but the line was always busy. Esme was worried, too, for everyone's wellbeing, and she seemed anxious not being able to speak to Carlisle. I had to say I understood the feeling. I could easily have traversed the distance between here and there no matter what the conditions outside, but Esme said and everyone else agreed that us managing to make it into town on a day like this would be very circumspect. Part of me didn't care about appearances at this stage, but my sensible side realised how important it was to keep the secret and after my vision, I was far too fearful of stepping out of bounds, even doing something as small as this.

Emmett and Jasper were both busy trying to get the generator going as this was the first time it had ever been needed. Rosalie and Alice were bringing all the furniture and other items downstairs again whilst Esme began the tedious task of putting them back in their places. With no phones, no internet, and no power, there was precious little to distract me from thinking of Leah, and of my vision.

_It's happening again, isn't it?_

My visions had warned me, warned me that things would get harder than I had ever imagined, that there would be changes, that there would be pain. All of it had come to pass. I had become a vampire, my brother and father were killed, _I_ had killed, and my sister had become like me, and _she_ had killed, and then I had lost her along with those I'd grown so close to, Fiona and Dermot. With the return of Fionn and the danger he always foretold, I couldn't shake that sense that maybe I was ill-fated, perhaps I just sowed misfortune wherever I went. Would I next bring death and misery upon the Cullens, or the Packs, or Leah? Just that image of her dying at the hands of those same hooded figures as before made me want to run to her, to never leave her side so no one could ever hurt her. Would that mean anything, though, if the Volturi ever tracked me down? They had Demetri, and he must have caught the tenor of my mind. Surely, they must have known where I was as I ran from them, that I had come to Washington, to Forks. Yet so many months had passed, and they had plenty of opportunity to intercept me. Yet they had not. I supposed I had no idea what goings on had taken place at Volterra since my revelations to Marcus. Still, laying my hopes upon one man's grief-fuelled need for revenge was somewhat of a stretch. I just tried to put any thoughts of the Volturi out of my mind as if thinking about them might lead them to me faster.

I shuddered with the ring of the house phone.

It only did so once before Esme picked it up. She said, "Hello."

I could clearly hear Carlisle's voice on the other end. "_Hello, sweetheart, I am so sorry I'm only calling now_."

"No, no, it's okay. I'm just glad to hear from you. Is everything all right?"

"_Yes, we're just very busy down here. There's been traffic accidents and the like. People have been injured in the flooding and from flying debris, as well_."

"Are you coping?"

"_Barely, we want to transfer some of the more serious cases to Port Angeles, but the roads are all closed after that mudslide and from other flooding. We're hoping for airlifts, but that might not happen till the winds die down. I spoke with Edward. He told me about your miraculous escape_."

"Miraculous indeed, and we have Jason to thank for that."

"_May I speak with him?_"

"Of course, I love you, dear. Be well."

"_You, too, dear. I love you_."

I walked over and Esme handed me the phone with a smile. I said, "Hello, Carlisle."

"_Hello, Jason. First off, I have to thank you. Our family is the most important thing, and the house may be only a material possession, but we have many memories there. Thank you so much for saving it_."

"You're welcome, Carlisle. This place means a lot to me, too. I wasn't about to let it get wrecked if I could help it."

"_And you doing so was an incredible feat. Edward did tell me that he could not perceive any limits to what you could do_."

"Well, after it was over, I certainly felt limited. Did he tell you that I passed out?"

"_Yes, yes, very disturbing for a vampire, I've never seen it myself unless the body has been dismembered. You mentioned before that these blackouts are often accompanied by visions. I know that yours are unlike Alice's in that they are generally more personal, but may I ask what you saw?_"

I hesitated a moment. Everyone had stopped what they were doing to hear my response. Should I tell them that I might well have drawn their enemies back to their doorstep? I took a deep breath before saying, "I saw my friend Fionn as before. He told me to be ready, to expect life and death. Then…I watched Leah die at the hands of two dark, robed figures."

Everyone was silent. They knew what I'd been through with the Volturi, so they knew that my visions could only really mean one thing. Carlisle's tone was measured as he replied, "_Well, there's nothing we can really do for the moment. Perhaps it's best to wait and see if Alice has any corroborating visions. Until then, I see no reason to panic or to dwell on this_." It sounded as though he wasn't just addressing me but the whole family. He then said, "_Another thing, Jason, Leah's mother was discharged_."

"Oh, that's brilliant."

"_I'm afraid I only let her go because we had more urgent cases, and we needed the beds. Leah was right. She's underweight and has low blood pressure. I'll have to wait for the test results to come back, but I suspect she might have some deficiencies as well. Back to my point, she's home with Leah and Seth. So if you wish to go to her, you can_."

"Thanks for letting me know, Carlisle."

"_Of course, I'll call again at the end of my shift. See you all soon_."

I put down the phone and looked at Esme. "May I?" I asked.

"You may, but take a jacket."

I was upstairs, in a heavy, waterproof coat, and downstairs in the blink of an eye, and everyone watched me race out the door with a look of endearment.

I bounded through the forest but was surprised to find myself stumbling quite a bit, not a common experience for even the most ungraceful of vampires. The wind blowing through the trees was quite strong and fresh tree limbs littered the forest floor. The ground, too, was squelchy and my hard footfalls sometimes shot straight down into the earth to my knee. I had no trouble freeing myself, though I lost my shoe on a few occasions. I crossed into Quileute lands. I wasn't anticipating trouble until I found myself flying sideways. Something had blindsided me, butting me in mid-stride. I immediately regained my footing to be taken down by another full-force charge. I was pinned with the snapping jaws of a wolf but a few inches from my face. I was fairly easily deflecting the bites that were aiming to wrench my head from my shoulders when I decided to turn the tables. I concentrated the blackness into a small sphere about the size of a tennis ball and just to add insult to injury, I used the mind fire to raise its temperature just enough to make this wolf think twice about ambushing me again. I released it against his underbelly. The wolf yelped and screeched as I heard the sizzle of burnt hair and flesh. I stood, watching him pathetically try to lick and gnaw the affected area. It was just then that Sam appeared in human form. He said, "Paul, what the hell are you doing?"

This Paul limped behind a few bushes to change form before returning in shorts with the flesh of his stomach reddened and swollen. He pointed at me and said, "This bloodsucker burned me."

"You ambushed me, you asshole." I replied.

"I'm gonna tear it to pieces."

He took one step forward when Sam issued a command that Paul seemed powerless to resist. "Get back to the reserve now, Paul. Don't let me see you out here again."

He reluctantly complied but not without menacing me before he turned wolf and ran back towards the reservation. Sam regarded me coolly and said, "That might have led to an incident between us had you injured him badly."

"I defended myself. There's nothing more to it."

"This isn't a good time, Jason."

"What do you mean?"

"We had a rough time last night. Maybe you should come another time."

"Is it to do with the mudslide?"

"…Yes. It cut right across our tribe's burial site; specifically where we've buried our most recently deceased."

"I'm really sorry to hear that."

"Yeah, well, the graves are all ruined, a few even got ripped away totally, including Leah's father's grave."

"…What? Why didn't you tell me straight off?"

"Because Sue and Seth are really in a bad place right now. I don't think your presence is going to help."

"Fine, can just you pass it on to Leah that I'm here if she wants to see me?"

"I can do that, I guess. Don't approach any closer, though, unless you want more of what Paul served up."

I resisted the urge to growl as he sprinted off. The turnaround was really quick. I could smell Leah's sweet aroma carried on the wind before I ever heard her footfalls. She emerged from the bushes about the same place where Sam had left. She laid eyes on me and was in tears before I took her into my arms. She wailed at first, almost in hysterics, before after a few minutes she caught her breath and her cries lessened to infrequent sobs. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy. She'd clearly been in tears for a very long time. She asked, "Jason, what am I going to do? My family are in bits."

I wasn't about to tell her it was going to be okay. That would be insulting. I knew how painful her loss was. I also knew what it was like to not have a place to go to remember a loved one, to speak with them, to just feel someway close to them even though they're gone. Chloe was basically cremated, her ashes lost to the earth where she fell. I had nothing of hers, no place I could go. So I knew what it must have been like for her right then. Maybe it was worse for her, though. She'd told me about her father and how he had died six years ago of a heart attack when Leah unexpectedly became a shapeshifter. I knew she blamed herself and perhaps visiting his grave was a way of consoling herself, something that had been literally ripped away from her. She said while wiping her tears, "I'm sorry."

"Why?"

"Here I am unloading on you when we've been together a couple of days, and I'm the elder of us," she choked out a laugh at that but it was humourless, "It's just that this couldn't have come at a worse time."

"Leah, regardless, I'm here for you. I am here for you to lean on and to unload whenever you need it. You know I understand how you're feeling. I've lost my sister and have nothing of hers to look to when I miss her. I promise, though, that you can come to me with anything."

"Thank you, I feel like I should apologise again, though. This must bring back painful memories."

"I'd be lying if I said it didn't, but it's you who's hurting now, not me. Is there anything I can do?"

"I'll-I'll be okay, it's just that I've always felt responsible for my father's death, and I've never properly grieved, or let myself grieve because that would be admitting he's gone. Most of the time I wouldn't go to his grave and when I had to at a memorial or such, I'd pretend he was there with me, just for those few minutes. Now, I guess, I'll just have to face it. It's not myself I worry about most, though. Seth is taking it hard, but he's strong, he'll come around. It's my mother. She's so fragile, Jason. I know she has Charlie now, but this is killing her almost as much as what I put her through."

At that point, the tears returned. I held her again and said, "I think your mother just needs to know you're okay."

"Well, that was what yesterday was supposed to be about."

"Do you think she's up to a phone call?"

"A what?"

"Well, seeing me right now or even the near future might be too much for her. What if I call? That way she can get to know the person her daughter has imprinted on without seeing a vampire standing in front of her."

"...We can try, but maybe tomorrow would be best."

"Of course, how about you call the Cullens' place whenever it suits you both."

"Okay, I really need to head back. The packs and the tribe are trying to repair some of the damage to the burial ground. I'll try talking to my mother some more, just to reassure her."

"Of course, go be with your family. I'll be waiting by the phone."

She smiled and gave me a kiss on the lips before reluctantly letting go of my hand and disappearing back into the forest. With that, I backtracked to the Cullens'.

That day dragged like no other. It just couldn't end fast enough. I did my share of helping out Esme with the downstairs furniture and then the far less pleasant task of cleaning out her back garden. Even with vampire speed and strength, we were hours trying to get rid of every last stone and branch that had been deposited by the mudflow. Some of the larger trunks and boulders required more than one of us to move, but Emmett often accused me of cheating with my ability. He was right on occasion but I argued the point anyway just for the fun of riling him up. After that, we spent the rest of the evening and part of the night shovelling the muck out of the garden until we revealed the decimated lawn beneath. Emmett, Jasper and myself took it upon ourselves to undo any major blockages near us along the course of the river just in case there were anymore catastrophic downpours. With that task, I definitely cheated. I wasn't about to wade into muddy water like Emmett.

The night saw little improvement with the weather. The rain still poured and the wind howled, but it only looked miserable outside, not like the end of the world. I had pretty much resigned myself to the waiting game when the phone rang bright and early at nine the next morning. I was downstairs and picking up the phone so fast that Esme who had been in the kitchen didn't get there before me. She smiled indulgently, realising who I was expecting to call. To my relief, the others were out hunting so there were no other prying ears. I said, "Hello."

The voice on the other end was not Leah's. "_Ah, hello, may I speak with Jason._"

"Am, speaking."

"_This is Sue Clearwater_."

I involuntarily gulped as I replied, "Ms. Clearwater, I was hoping you'd call. I-I'm sorry for your loss, what happened at the burial ground."

"_Thank you...that means a lot, but I want to talk to you about my daughter_."

"O-kay..."

"_I don't pretend that I know about your kind or that I know any of you well, with the exception of Bella, but my perception of her may be tainted by my memories of her as a human. So I have to ask this, do you love her?_"

I was stunned, but my vampire mind allowed me to set that aside so I could give her an answer. "Yes, yes, I do, of course."

"_You must understand that I know well what an imprint means to one of my people. To Leah, you are everything now, and most imprintees would respond to that unwavering devotion in kind. For Leah, the situation is somewhat more complex…_"

"Ms. Clearwater, I mean no disrespect, but just because I'm a vampire doesn't mean I am incapable of showing love or commitment like a human would, if anything, our emotions and bonds can be stronger…"

"_You've misunderstood. What I meant was the fact that Leah's the first female shapeshifter, and you are a man_."

"I don't get what you're saying."

"_If a man shows a woman complete and utter fidelity and affection, most women would find that much devotion hard to say no to. On the other hand, men are more likely to leave regardless of how the woman feels for them. You may say that's a stereotype, but that's how I see things. Leah's feelings for you run infinitely deeper than a normal human woman's. I can't begin to imagine what you leaving would do to her. I've already nearly lost her twice. You see why I need this reassurance. I need to know that from now on my daughter will be happy_."

There was a slight catch in her voice with that last word. I could tell she was trying not to cry over the phone. I wasn't sure if I could convince her with mere words. I said, "Ms. Clearwater, I can guarantee that I will do everything I can to make Leah happy, but don't take my word for it, just judge me on what I do. I promise to always do good by her for as long as we're both on this Earth."

She paused a moment. She then seemed to compose herself and said, "_I will hold you to that, Mr. Culhane and please, you may call me Sue. Leah is lurking behind me, trying to get me off the phone, so I will let you go. I'm sure we'll be seeing each other soon. Take care_."

"You, too."

There was some murmured exchange on the other end before Leah came on. She said, "_You got a smile, do you know how long it's been since the last time I've seen her smile?_"

"I'm sure she's just happy that you're happy, Leah."

"_Ahuh, so you must have impressed_."

"Like you weren't eavesdropping."

"_Ugh, what kind of woman do you think I am…but yes, I was_." She giggled sweetly then, and it brought a huge grin to my face to hear it.

"I'm glad you're happy, too. How're things going at the reservation?"

"_A bit better. We're in the process of restoring the burial ground, though there's not much we can do about the graves that were ripped away. We've decided to put a memorial to my dad on the site where he was buried once the spot is refilled with earth. At least, we'll have somewhere to go. Listen, I have a favour to ask you_."

"Shoot, anything at all, I'm there."

"_I need to talk to Esme…in private_."

Esme stuck her head out of the kitchen with a baffled expression on her face. I was just as confused. I replied, "All right, I'll put her on."

"_In private means you have to be far away. I know how well you can hear_."

"Okay, okay, I have to go hunt anyhow. Maybe I can meet you afterwards?"

"_Definitely, come to the reservation at six sharp this evening. Love you, now go chase some deer_."

Esme walked over at a human pace and took the phone from me hesitantly. We were still both bemused as to what this was about. I decided that as much as I was curious to abide by Leah's wishes and went straight out the front door.

I didn't meet the others on the hunt. Their scent trails led off to the south-east, but I sensed prey to the north. I followed the scent trail until I came upon an unexpected quarry, a small herd of feral goats. Their blood volume was significantly less than that of a stag, but they sufficed. I figured as well that I was doing the local wildlife a favour by getting rid of those noisome, perpetual eating machines.

I went to the reservation at six. The storm was finally beginning to clear with Washington State returning to its usual dull and drizzly rather than a scene from some epic disaster movie. I still was wary of my footing. I didn't want to be caught with a stuck leg if Paul decided to have another temper tantrum. I walked into the open green near the reservation houses at a human gait. I was greeted by Seth. This was my first proper meeting with him since before his sister's imprint, so I suddenly became guarded. Seth greeted me as warmly as he had the first time we'd met. He shook my hand and said, "I could say you should have asked my permission before asking my sister out, but I'd say she did the asking."

"Ah…well, I'm not really clear on that part actually. It kind of just…happened."

"Well, that's the way with imprints. I might be wrong, but I think Leah has another surprise for you."

"Really? I knew she was up to something."

"You wanna come to the house and meet your fate."

"I already have met her."

"Geez, man, don't get mushy on me. It's my sister we're talking about."

"Hehe, so, how're you after what happened?"

"I'm better now than yesterday. I guess I remembered I don't need to go to a grave to see my dad. I have my dad right here always." He pointed to his heart.

"I know what you mean. My heart is where I keep my sister, Chloe. I guess you're right. Our memories are the most important thing."

"Right on."

Leah emerged from her house just as we reached the door. She was beaming. I was left stunned by her beauty, her smile, but most of all by the joy in her eyes. She took my hand and literally dragged me into the house. Sue was in the kitchen. She said, "Hello, Jason, maybe this time we can greet each other without me passing out."

"That would be nice." I offered my hand. "It's nice to meet you, Ms. Clearwater."

She took it and managed not to flinch at my coldness. She replied, "And you, too, Jason. Now, I have somewhere to be…"

"She has a date with Charlie." Leah interrupted.

Sue said, "How do I look?"

I had to admit that with a touch of makeup, her hair done, and in a mauve dress with a black shrug, she looked a million times better than she had a few days ago at the hospital. I said, "You look very nice, Ms. Clearwater. I'm sure Charlie won't know what hit him."

Leah muttered, "Charmer."

Sue said, "Thank you, Jason."

"He's just trying to get on your good side."

"Well, it's working." Charlie's squad car pulled up outside and Sue said, "Well, that's him. I'll leave you two to it."

As she stepped out, Leah slid a few sheets of paper from across the table in front of me. She said, "I have something for you."

"Oh?"

"It's a big something, and if you don't want to do it, that's totally okay, but I spoke with Esme, and she told Carlisle. They both agree that it's worth it for you to do this."

"All right, what is it?"

She handed me the sheets. It was a plane ticket reservation for a flight from Seattle to New York for a month from then. I said, "Wow, you want us to go to the Big Apple? Our first holiday?"

"No, that's only half of it. Read the other pages."

I did so. I was awed. I was speechless. I wanted to thank her, to tell her how much I loved her in that moment, but my expression seemed to say it all for her. The next reservation was for tickets from JFK to Shannon Airport, to Ireland…

_To home._


	6. Chapter 6: Homecoming

**HOMECOMING**

"May I get you a drink, ma'am?"

"No, no, thank you."

The air hostess smiled pleasantly and moved on down the cabin. I watched Leah's slightly pained expression with concern. She was clearly uncomfortable for some reason. I supposed that reason was obvious but I decided to ask anyways, "Leah..." My voice seemed to startle her out of some train of deep thought. I continued, "Leah, are you okay?"

"Yes...no..."

"What's the matter?"

"This wasn't the best way to find out that I don't like flying, was it?"

I should have noticed the change in her sooner. We had both been excited about the trip, myself because I was getting to see Fiona and Dermot again, to go home, and to get off school for another week with my sincere promise to Carlisle to make up for it when I got back. For Leah, I thought it was more the adventure and excitement of it all and despite her vastly improved state of mind, it was a chance to get away, too. She had even seemed excited to get on a plane, well, until it took off. As it climbed, she grew steadily more anxious and tense. When the plane started to level off, she became fidgety and constantly shifted in her seat. That had been the third time the airhostess had come by to ask her could she get her something. I was thinking that the airhostess probably meant a stiff drink or a sleeping pill. Leah didn't pick up on that, it seemed. She just said she was fine and concentrated intently on some indeterminate point ahead of her. I put my hand on hers and squeezed very gently. I replied, "It's okay, Leah. We're nearly in New York, and our flight from there won't be departing for an hour once we arrive."

"How long is the second flight?"

"...Over six hours."

"So longer than this flight?"

"Yeah, sorry."

"It's okay, I'll be okay."

That wasn't at all convincing, and there was something I had to ask. "Leah, you're all right in terms of...you know...?"

"No, I don't."

"You know, you don't think you'll...change?"

"Oh? Oh no, that won't happen. Although, I think it's something to do with that side of me that doesn't like not having my feet on the ground."

"I suppose then that the usual stuff people take to calm down on a flight wouldn't be helpful in your case."

"Unless you think the pilots will be okay with a tipsy wolf onboard."

"Maybe next time we travel, we should just run. It's not like we couldn't manage it."

"Maybe, although I'd probably leave you in the dust, so I might lose you."

"Don't worry, I could smell you for miles and anyways, there's no way you'd outrun me. I'm a newborn."

"Oh really? I'm the fastest in either pack."

"Still wouldn't do it."

"How about you prove that?"

"Is that a challenge?"

Leah turned in her seat to face me. "Yes, yes it is. How about this then; you and me race from our last stop to Fiona's cottage."

"You won't know the way. Then again, I suppose you could just follow my tracks and you should get there in a reasonable amount of time, after myself, of course."

Narrowing her eyes, she replied, "Mark my words, you'll be eating yours before the day is out."

"Promises, promises."

"You're lucky these windows don't roll down because I'd be chucking you out one."

"Okay, okay, I'll be good."

"Damn right, you will."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Do you want me to smack you or something?"

"Hmm, what a question to ask."

"God, you're so annoyingly cheeky! Can you not stop?"

"Why? Am I exciting you too much?"

Suffice it to say that that conversation kept Leah fully "engaged" until we reached JFK, totally distracting her from the flight. When we arrived, I thought we were both fairly stupefied by the scale of the airport. When we finally located the _Aer Lingus_ ticket desk to check in for the changeover flight to Ireland, we were both run ragged from chasing down staff to ask for directions and then doubling back when we realised we'd gone the wrong way. I was more drained in a mental sense, physically, I could still have run laps around the airport indefinitely. Leah, however, was fairly worn and still needed some human moments from time to time. Our next flight wasn't leaving for another thirty minutes so she went to one of the many bathrooms to freshen up. We'd already checked in our luggage, but I noticed that when Leah had taken her toiletries bag out of our carryon that I had one, too. Alice had insisted on packing some essentials for us.

It was quite amusing really.

It was sometimes easy to forget that they all hailed from very different eras to the modern one. Edward very subtly voiced his concerns over an unmarried couple such as ourselves going on a foreign vacation together unaccompanied. Leah and I had burst into fits of laughter when he finished his lecture with the word "unseemly". Rosalie was highly disapproving also, but, as always, Emmett could be relied upon to bring the comic relief, teasing Edward mercilessly. Esme had similar concerns I believed, but our wellbeing on our trip seemed to be of greater importance in her mind. Alice had been in her element when she had volunteered herself to do our packing, even though we'd already done it. She just eyed our single carryon bag each with such singular disapproval, promptly retrieved no less than four suitcases from her room, and quite curtly told us to go away while she worked. Two hours later, she returned our much-increased luggage to us with a flourish and a beaming smile. I couldn't begin to fathom what she had packed for us, seeing as we'd only be gone a week, not a month, and that we were travelling to Ireland, not the Bahamas or some other exotic locale. Still, she seemed so pleased with herself and in a genuine way, not a smug, self-satisfied way. I said to Jasper, "Seriously, man, how do you ever say no to her?"

"It's simple, I don't."

"Is it easier that way?"

Alice interjected, "Ugh, rude!"

Jasper smiled indulgently at her as he answered, "No, the truth is I never say no because I always want to see that delighted smile of hers."

At that point, they got all lovey-dovey and so lost in each other's gazes that I felt an urgent need to excuse myself. Thinking back to it, however, I realised I was beginning to understand that level of adoration. I knew I could look into Leah's eyes and lose track of days if she'd let me. I decided to have a rummage through my toiletries to see what Alice had packed for me. I didn't need toothpaste, deodorant, facial or shaving products. A comb and a sponge was all I'd need. Alice would probably respond to such a statement as a totally male thing to say. Still, the little zip up bag in my hand looked rather stuffed and felt fairly hefty. With a sigh, I unzipped it and peeked in. Not a second later, I was zipping it up again and shoving it back in my carryon. I shook my head just as Leah returned. She looked a little pale. I asked, "Are you okay?"

"Did you look in your toiletry bag, too?"

"Yeah, only Alice, huh?"

"Ahuh, I think this was her idea of being responsible."

"I wonder did she consult with Edward on the matter."

We both burst into laughter again at the thought of it, drawing looks from everyone in the terminal. Not long after that, we were queuing up to board the _Aer Lingus_ flight to Shannon. Leah was considerably calmer the second time round. I supposed she knew what to expect. I noticed, though, that the paleness in her face hadn't faded. I assumed it was caused by the sheer shock of what Alice had packed for her. When I thought about it, though, I remembered she'd been rather hurried going to the bathrooms. She'd been dozing a lot on this flight as well. About four hours into the flight, she leant forward with a hand to her head when she'd been asleep but a minute before. I turned off my MP3 player and placed a hand on her near shoulder saying, "Leah, what's wrong?"

"It's okay. I'm just feeling a little queasy."

"Do you think it was the airplane food?"

"Not sure, don't panic but I threw up at JFK."

"Awh crap, why didn't you say something?"

"There was no need to panic you. How ironic that in one day I find out I'm afraid to fly, and I get airsick."

"I guess, are you sure you'll be okay? Maybe Alice packed something for upset stomachs."

"Be my guest if you want to venture back into that bag of discomfort."

"I'll brave it if I have to."

"That's sweet, but you're not sacrificing your innocence for the sake of a stomach gripe. I'll just sleep it off. We're nearly there, aren't we?"

"Less than two hours left."

She smiled at me. "You're happy, aren't you?"

"How do you mean?"

"You've missed your friends. You're looking forward to seeing them again."

"I really am, what I'm looking forward to most is introducing you."

"It's strange, I'm so nervous about that."

"They won't bite…or, am, you know what I'm getting at."

"You are just full of reassurance."

"Really, though, they're good people. Dermot might take the piss a bit, but my advice would be to deal with him as you would Emmett."

She looked at me as if I had two heads and said, "Okay, I haven't actually done all that much chit-chat with Emmett but from what I've gathered, it would be an experience best avoided."

"Emmett's not all bad. It just takes some time to get used to his particular sense of humour."

"You mean his lewdness."

"Okay, okay, my point is it's gonna be fine. They'll love you, and do you know why?"

"Why?"

"Because I do, and that's all they'll need to know."

She smiled appreciatively and kissed me gently on the lips before laying back to sleep. Even in that brief moment, I could sense the heat emanating from her body, washing over me, leaving a tingle on my lips. Yet I knew that the intensity of it was greater than normal, even for Leah. I sincerely hoped she wasn't coming down with something. I didn't even know if shapeshifters could get ill. There was a lot for me yet to learn, but I would relish every moment of it.

The airplane came in over Ireland's western coastline in the late morning, and we were greeted by dazzling, stone-splitting sunshine. I didn't stare right out the window for fear of revealing my nature to the other passengers, but I could see well enough to make out the rolling green pastures demarcated by an endless maze of hedgerows and country roads. At first, I spotted only individual homesteads amongst the verdant fields, but we were soon flying over villages and towns. Leah gazed in awe at the scenery out the window. It must have been spectacular to her, having never been on a plane before, but also the country rolling by beneath us must have been such a departure from the forested mountains of Washington State. Shannon Town and the airport came into view a few minutes later and all too soon, the panorama was lost as we began a rapid descent towards the runway. Leah held my hand through this as she had done before we landed at JFK. I was beginning to think she might get used to flying if only we could cut out the taking off and landing parts. Just as before, though, the landing was smooth and hardly noticeable, and the plane began taxiing towards the airport.

Once it came to a halt, we were allowed to depart. On exiting, we were greeted by unseasonable warmth but that was softened by a fresh breeze from the west. Alice had told us we could expect a week of glorious weather, especially for Ireland. That meant taking some precautions on my part. The clothes I was wearing were far too heavy for the weather, and I also wore sunglasses and a cap to shield my face. My winter-ready outfit drew a few looks, but better people think I was weird than a supernatural being.

Leah and I hurried towards the entrance where we fell in with the crowd sauntering towards the border control to check our passports. We deliberately joined separate queues and made as if we didn't know each other. Carlisle had been more than happy for me to make this trip, but that didn't mean he didn't think we needed to take precautions given our mutual history with the Volturi. The chances that they'd come across the relevant information about our particular flight that might reveal me or Leah to them were very slim but on the off chance, we had taken a few more measures.

I reached the head of the queue almost at the same time as Leah. Without a word, I handed in my passport. However, this wasn't my original passport, I didn't even know what had become of that, probably gathering dust in some Garda evidence box. This passport was a fake provided by an associate of Jasper's, well, associate was the word he used. His name was Mr. Jenks and apparently, the Cullens had used his services in this regard many times over several decades. This included when the Volturi had come for Renesmee, and they needed a contingency in case the worst happened. Jasper, with one phone call and a quick road trip, had procured a passport for both myself and Leah. Leah's was under the name Nina Sanchez and mine was Neill O' Donnell. I thought the name was suitably generically Irish not to stand out on a list, and Leah would just look like a foreign tourist. The officer in the booth eyed me openly. My dress and my stiffness probably didn't work in my favour, but I was hoping to come off a little haughty. I checked up on Leah whilst the officer seemed to examine every square centimetre of my passport. She hadn't played the overexcited, overfriendly tourist very well but was through border patrol already. The woman in her booth seemed relieved to be rid of her. I refrained from smiling openly for it wasn't part of my act. The man finally returned my passport to me and waved me on. I resisted the automatic impulse to thank him and charged past with my nose up in the air. I had to pay Alice back someday for making me assume this ridiculous persona.

As we funnelled out into the arrivals area, we maintained a good distance between us. We grabbed our suitcases, Leah taking one and me three, and heading for the nearest exit. When we were outside, Leah did a beeline for the taxi rank and jumped in the nearest car. A bus for Limerick had just pulled up, and I threw my luggage into the compartment and boarded without hesitation. We had planned this. We prearranged to meet in Limerick City Centre before continuing on to Kerry together. As the bus pulled away, I made sure I saw Leah's taxi depart. The driver left with some haste down another road, probably taking a shortcut. I was restless being separated from her like this but we'd meet up again in half an hour. Everything was going to plan. As the bus made its last pick up in Shannon Town and joined the dual carriageway, I allowed myself to appreciate my situation.

_I'm home._

The last time I'd been on a bus was when I'd been going to school in Galway but unlike that prison wagon, this journey was one of eager anticipation and reminiscing as I stared out the window. The green fields bathed in this Indian summer and Bunratty Castle came into view on the shore of a calm river, its waters sparkling like precious jewels lay just beneath its surface. My vampire eyes picked out the individual flowers in the fields and leaves in the trees that defied the season with their vibrancy. Everything reminded me that I was home, the number plates on cars, the signposts, the relentless lushness all around me. The only thing that didn't fit was the Mediterranean weather, but that was a welcome amendment to the picture in my head. The bus driver seemed as in as much of a rush as Leah's taxi and had us in town in less than twenty minutes. The door swung open as we pulled up in William's Street and the luggage compartment creaked open with the standard tedious warning repeating every few seconds. I disembarked quickly and grabbed the luggage. I got more than a few looks, not just for my outfit this time but for the fact that I was wheeling two suitcases whilst carrying a massive backpack and my carryon looped around my neck. I told Leah exactly where to get off, a high fashion store on O' Connell's Street. I was but a minute getting there, totally unfazed by my load. When I rounded the corner of the store, Leah stood there nervously, holding tightly to her bag. With a grin, I said, "Hey you."

"Hey." She was so relieved to see me as she ran over to me and planted a kiss on my lips. She looked a little better than when she was on the flight, but she still felt overly warm. I brought a hand to her cheek and gently stroked her skin, tracing a line from her temple to her cheek. That only confirmed it. I asked, "You okay, Leah?"

"Of course, never better. It's really nice here, very different, though."

She was lying and trying to change the subject. I decided to let it be. If worst came to worst and she was sick, we were about to visit a doctor anyway. I replied, "You like it now but wait until it starts raining."

"Jason, seriously, Olympic Peninsula, wettest place in the continental US."

"Believe me, Leah, you haven't experienced rain until you've been out in Irish rain."

"I love to see that smile of yours. You should do it more often."

"What? What do you mean?"

"You're actually so happy. I'm glad, but you better come home with me after this."

"I'd follow you anywhere, Leah."

"Hmm, that's nice and all but for right now, I have to follow you. So where to, native boy?"

"I hadn't actually thought that far ahead. I was so concerned with just getting here. We'll look really obvious running through the countryside with all these bags…"

"Did you ever consider getting another bus?"

"Well, yeah, we could do that. The Kilarney bus would land us pretty close to Fiona's cottage."

"Didn't you tell me she works at the hospital here?"

"In this weather, she'd be working nights. Better get a move on. It's late evening, she might be leaving soon."

"Lead the way."

We just caught the Kilarney bus from the station and settled down for the two-hour drive to Kerry, or the "Kingdom" as it was known to some. Leah seemed very tired and spent most of the journey asleep on my shoulder. Her temperature hadn't come down yet. I put my arm around her shoulders and placed my other hand on her cheek, hoping that my body might cool her. I had to wake her when we arrived, but I really didn't want to. She was groggy and a little dizzy getting off the bus. She passed it off as jet lag. I suppose I didn't have to worry about that since I didn't sleep. She, however, did, and twelve hours flying was a lot for someone who hadn't done it before. I reassured myself with that and hoped a good night's sleep would make all the difference. It was night by then, and it was easier to move. Leah decided to risk going wolf as we went off-road and cut across the fields whilst I managed fairly well despite all the bags. I had my concerns beforehand. "Well, I understand if you wanna go back on our bet."

"Excuse me?"

"Well, you aren't well. It wouldn't be fair."

"Tch, nice try, native boy. Good luck with those suitcases." Having ascertained the general direction of travel, she was off. _And here's me only showing concern…_

I was certain she wasn't going as fast as she could but I let her go ahead of me. Even burdened as I was, the baggage was only cumbersome, not a hindrance that could slow me. As the terrain gradually became rockier, I knew we were getting close. I hadn't come at the cottage from the south before, but I remembered well the lands surrounding it had been fit for little except grazing sheep. Something clicked as the distance grew between us and Kilarney. The intensity of human odours was dropping to that familiar background that I'd grown accustomed to when I'd stayed at the cottage. I pulled up beside Leah as we both dodged stones and jutting rock formations. There was something exhilarating to run with her like this even burdened as I was with our copious luggage. We were about to crest a hill when Leah turned sharply to the right and returned to human form behind a particularly large boulder. I fell in beside her without a second's thought, thinking that she might be feeling ill again. I immediately regretted it, at least on certain levels. "Jason!"

"Am, ah, Leah, sorry," I turned my back to her and said, "Are you okay?"

"Yes, can I have my suitcase please?"

"Of course, do you need tablets? Are you sick again?"

"No, I'd just rather not greet your friends naked."

"Oh, oh, of course, how stupid of me."

"Ahuh, I'm sure that's all it was."

I passed the suitcase behind me without turning. Leah rummaged for a moment before exclaiming, "Oh my God!"

"What? _What?_"

"What the hell did Alice think we'd be doing? I assume this skimpy thing is beachwear."

"Even in this weather, you wouldn't be going to the beach in Ireland."

"What the hell, this thing barely exists. It's like a scrap of fabric, and this, it's like see-through gauze."

I thanked my lucky stars that I'd lost the ability to blush. _I swear to God, Alice, between the toiletries and this, you are going to pay!_

After a few minutes, Leah was ready. She said, "Okay, you can look now."

She wore black skinny jeans and flowing, silky top that was a purplish grey colour like the sky when the heavens are about to burst open. She topped it off with a three-quarter length leather jacket and matching boots. It was hard not to appreciate her voluptuous body in that figure-hugging outfit. After a minute of ogling, she said, "I assume that means I look nice."

"You look stunning, Leah."

"Thank you, now, focus. Which way do we go?"

I was just about to open my mouth to answer when the sound of multiple footfalls approaching from the north cut me off. Leah could hear it, too. Whoever it was, they weren't trying to be stealthy. I turned in the direction they were coming from. A form emerged from the darkness, rounding the boulder behind which we hid. A familiar scent, a familiar stride, a familiar flash of burgundy hair as she ran. All of a sudden, she was right up against me, her arms embracing me. "Jason!"

"Fiona!"

"It's you, I can't believe it's you."

Suddenly, another pair of arms grappled me from the side. "Jason, my man, you took your bloody time."

"Dermot."

I don't know how long we were like that. These people weren't just long lost friends; they were family. They had been before the Cullens, and they'd been the first real family that I'd had, no matter how brief my time with them had been.

_And now, I have them back._

I'd promised Dermot I'd come back, and Fiona believed we'd see each other again despite everything. We all cried with happiness for on the surface, none of us expected this day to come. It was only deep down inside that we knew that the fates would bring us back together. I was so incredibly happy to see them, to know that everything I'd been through had not been for naught, that those I loved could be back in my life again. After a few more moments, Dermot released me but didn't move back. Fiona did the same but a bit slower. She held my face in her hands and stared into my eyes. It was then that her teary-eyed elation turned to confusion. I knew she must have seen the change in my eye colour. Before she could say anything, I said, "It's a long story, Fiona, which is part of an even longer story. You haven't peeked, have you?"

"No, no, I'll let you explain, I suppose. It is so good to see you again, Jason. We'd feared the worst."

"You mean you didn't get my letters then?"

"Letters?"

"I wrote to you. I guess the postman couldn't find you out here. I wasn't certain of your address."

"How strange, well, all that matters is that we know now."

"That's true. Fiona, Dermot, there's someone I'd like you to meet."

I strolled over to Leah who had come forward hesitantly. I took her hand in mine, and she gripped it firmly. I said, "This is Leah."

Leah said, "Hello, it's nice to meet you both."

I wasn't sure what to make of their expressions. I wasn't sure if they were stunned or puzzled. Dermot was the first to speak. "Well, Jason, I thought some day down the line I'd have to teach you a thing or two in this department, but you seem to have knocked the nail on the head."

Fiona walloped him in the shoulder and said, "Dermot, manners!"

"Oh, ah, yes, it is very nice to meet you, Leah, and might I say you do look lovely."

"Am, thank you, you don't look too bad yourself."

"Ah, I try."

Fiona stepped forward and took her hand. "It's very nice to meet you, dear. Excuse my nephew; he's a womanizer and a cheeky flirt."

"It's okay. We have one of those back home. I was well prepared."

She turned to me. "Jason, it must be quite a story you have."

"Indeed it is."

"Well, I'm usually privy to every detail about everything, so let's get back to the cottage, so you can spill it. Dermot, be a gentleman for once and carry their bags. My, you packed awfully well, didn't you?"

"Unfortunately, Fiona, we had no say in the luggage department."

"Or indeed what our luggage consisted of." Leah added.

"Am, Leah, you didn't close the suitcase after you."

"Oh, oh my God."

Leah ran to zip it back up before Dermot laid hands on it. Fiona looked horrified but still managed to fix me with an accusatory stare that only she could produce. I put up my hands and made a nervous little sound whilst trying to look anywhere but her face.

I had been dead-on about the location of the cottage. Just over the hill, the ground sloped off more gently until it met the road on which the cottage sat. We traversed the stony field and through a gap in the wild hedgerow and then, I was back. Nothing had changed. The cottage was still its pristine white, and the grounds were still perfectly manicured with the trees still leaning in, providing a leafy frame to an already perfect picture. Yet the lingering summer had remained here as well. The roses that lined the driveway were in full bloom with luscious red, pink, and white blossoms. The lawn was still perfectly square and neat but it was vibrantly green with a smattering of daisies peeking above the blades. The sounds were there, too, birdsong, the rustling of leaves in the gentle breeze, and the calls of farm animals going about the business of grazing and grazing some more.

_Animals, what'll I do when I need to feed?_

Ireland wasn't exactly teeming with wild animals to feed upon, even in this remote region, unless I considered foxes, badgers, and rabbits as suitable prey items. I didn't want to generate more headlines like I'd done before for chasing down cattle but if I was going to be here for a week, I'd need to feed at least once. Fiona led the way to the door while Dermot held the rear as he juggled our suitcases. I offered to help, but he insisted he was fine. Fiona unlocked that same varnished door with the golden lock that I remembered and held it open. We were inside the sitting room with its huge fireplace and plush furniture leading into the immaculate kitchen. It was all coming back to me, every bit of it, and it was then that I realised that Fiona hadn't mentioned Chloe. "Fiona…"

She came to me and put her arms around me gently this time. "It's okay, Jason. I know. I'm so sorry."

"I really tried to save her."

"Of course you did, dear. You did everything you could."

"Have you known all along?"

"Yes, as soon as it happened, I realised I couldn't glean anything about her anymore because she was no longer with us."

"At least there's that. I really thought that you didn't know what happened to either of us. That's why I wrote you."

"I must admit I strained my ability to the limit trying to connect to you. The last time I was even aware of your exact location was when you passed through France and even then, I couldn't tell if you were with the Volturi or not. Seemingly, your journey took you much further afield."

"Indeed, Leah's from Washington State, and I went there by foot the long way around."

"Well, please, both of you, take a seat, make yourselves comfortable, and tell me all about how you two met."

Dermot interjected as we sat down, "Before that, Jason, man, you have to explain the freaky eye colour."

"You're saying amber is freakier than red?"

"Well, come on, man, vampire eye colour is pretty uniform."

Fiona added, "It is an aberration, all right."

I replied, "It reflects a change in diet."

"How so?"

"This eye colour is a result of feeding on animal blood."

Fiona looked impressed and amazed simultaneously. Dermot's jaw just dropped. Leah drew closer to me. Her expression was a little apprehensive, but she continued to smile. I'd forgotten to explain to her that Dermot and Fiona weren't just indiscriminate human feeders. I gave her my hand to hold to make her feel better, intending to rectify my oversight as soon as I could. Dermot hadn't quite overcome his slack jaw, so Fiona spoke first. "And this is possible, Jason? It sustains you?"

"Yes…well, I can't say it's as satisfying as human blood, but it still keeps you strong. It's like the difference between always eating kebab meat when having sirloin steak would be so much better."

"It's so simple, but I'd never considered it."

Dermot asked, "And how do you get animal blood? From like an abattoir or butcher or something?"

"I guess I could do that. It's easier just to hunt live prey, though."

"You hunt animals?"

"Yes, I try to avoid domesticated animals 'cause it draws less attention from the humans. Luckily, there's an abundance of wildlife in Washington."

Fiona asked, "You say it's less satisfying, do you think it better than drinking from blood bags?"

_Thank you, Fiona_. I'd noticed Leah get even tenser as I compared animal blood to human blood. On hearing that, her rigid pose visibly slackened. I replied, "Well, it's nicer warm and fresh, I guess." I didn't go on to compare it to human blood straight from the vein. The fact that I'd taken human life was something I intended to discuss with Leah in private.

Dermot said, "So, man, let me get this straight. Not only have you dropped the vigilante lifestyle, you've gone off the packaged diet, too, to become, what? Veggie?"

I laughed. The Cullens even actually thought of themselves as vegetarians because they only fed on animal blood. I then realised that he had inadvertently revealed that thing I wanted to tell Leah privately. She, however, showed no sign of having caught on. I said, "Dermot, we've had this discussion before, and what did you say Fiona?"

"Ha! Forget that, Jason, you seem to have found your own unique way to live, one that I applaud."

"Thank you, and while I discovered it for myself, I can't take credit for being the first to figure it out."

Dermot exclaimed, "There are other veggies?"

"Yes, the whole Olympic Coven are animal feeders, as are their friends, the Denali Coven. It was through the former that I met Leah."

Fiona said, "Really? Well, I can see how your eye colour could make it easier to be among humans. You don't know how often I've had to pass off my red eyes and pale skin as a rare form of albinism. Yet, revealing the secret to a human is one of the great offences in the eyes of the Volturi, unless you intend to make them immortal."

"Well, that's the thing. Leah's not quite human."

"Jason, I hear her heart, see her blood flowing. She is no immortal."

"Not in our sense of the word. It's easier if she shows you."

Leah said, "Jason, I don't think she'll appreciate me changing in her house."

"That's not what I mean. Fiona, would you care to peek now?"

"All right. It's not strictly necessary, dear, but I find my first time with people can work better with physical contact. May I?"

Fiona extended her hand to Leah from her seat on the armchair. Leah drew just perceptibly closer to me and looked to me for reassurance. I nodded and smiled, squeezing her hand ever so gently. Still uncertain, Leah took Fiona's outstretched hand and readjusted her position so as to be closer to her. Fiona asked, "Is there anything in particular I'm looking for, Jason?"

"Just look in general, it'll be pretty glaring."

She nodded, not quite getting my meaning. A moment later, though, her expression turned to perplexity followed by what could only be interpreted as a "this can't be right" expression. That momentary distrust of her own ability then passed into wonder, her eyes wide, gazing at Leah. She stared perhaps a little too long, and Leah was becoming restless. Dermot asked, "Auntie, what's up?"

She did not answer or take her eyes off Leah. She simply took Dermot's arm, and the same series of emotions played out across his face. He said, "A werewolf? But, but not a werewolf? I don't get it."

Fiona replied, "She is a true shapeshifter, capable of changing form at will. The form that she takes is totally coincidental. She bears no relation to true werewolves. They may only change at the full moon and are practically extinct anyhow. Leah's kind also travels in packs where as werewolves do not."

"Packs? How many of you are there?"

Leah replied, "There are two packs within my tribe, taken together, there are several dozen of us."

Fiona said, "Remarkable, I suppose I shouldn't be so amazed given the reality of my own existence but to change physical form is an incredible thing."

"Thank you, though I've often seen it as a burden. These days, though, I realise it's my ticket to staying with Jason for as long as I choose."

"Yes, yes, you can choose to be mortal or not. Sorry, I apologise Leah, my ability is more like a sponge than a sieve. I can try to take only the information I want but inevitably that piece of knowledge ties in to so many others that I pick up a whole bundle of other stuff."

"That's all right, are you a mind reader or something?"

"Not exactly, I am a truth seer. My ability allows me to know all there is about a person or an event through the people involved. I can also maintain a connection with someone to keep up to date, or I can pass on truths I've learned to others as you just saw me do there with my nephew."

"So what else have you learned about me?"

"I think I've learned everything you know about your kind and your tribe. I got a general overview of you and Jason's story. I'm sorry if you felt I pried, but having seen what the two of you have, I am very happy for you. It pleases me that Jason has someone to share this life with. Many of my kind aren't so lucky, or they wait decades or centuries to find their match."

"Well, I'm happy to have him, too. He was a light in a very dark place, though, being me, I didn't see it right away."

"Don't worry, you wouldn't be the only one that's happened to. Oh, look at me blabbering on. I've been a terrible host. Leah, would you like something to eat? I keep plenty of food in the house."

"Well, I don't want to impose."

"Nonsense, it's very rarely I get the opportunity to cook. Besides, you must be famished after two flights and all the travelling from the airport."

"I guess I am. The airplane food wasn't all that great."

"Then it's settled. Would you like to see the kitchen and the back? I am particularly proud of my gardening at this time of year."

"Sure, are you coming, too, Jason?"

Dermot interjected, "Actually, Leah, I'm sorry, but I'm taking your significant other for a bit of a jaunt. I won't keep him long. Besides, you won't miss the time girling it up with my auntie here."

Fiona threw her eyes to heaven. Leah looked very uncertain, even apprehensive. I tried to reassure her without saying anything. I knew she was in no danger and that Fiona approved of her, but she didn't have the benefit of my certainty. It wasn't hard to guess what Dermot wanted, to catch up but on a more meaningful level than exchanging idle news. I betted to myself that Leah would be the main topic of discussion. I stood and Leah did so with me without prompt. I said, "We won't be going far, will we?"

"No, no, just as far as Kilarney. Don't worry, man, you'll be back with your love before you can even begin to miss her."

"Okay…" I turned to Leah, holding both her hands in mine. "Are you okay with this? I'm sure it can wait if you aren't." I gave a challenging look to Dermot so as to warn him off contradicting me.

"I'll be fine," she replied, "just hurry back, and try to hunt while you're out there." She gave me a light kiss on the lips and went with Fiona to the kitchen. Fiona was asking if she'd ever had any traditional Irish dishes as Dermot said, "Come on, man. The smell of human food doesn't agree with me one bit."

Leah and I just caught each other's eyes as I reluctantly followed Dermot to the door. Our expressions probably said everything we were too shy to say in front of them; I love you and sometimes that's clearest when we're apart. I turned and left, hoping I had conveyed the same.

When we left the house and Dermot immediately sprinted away, I knew he was trying to test me. Clearly, he wanted to see for himself if the animal blood was keeping me as strong as I'd said. He bounded through the rock-strewn field across from the house, climbing the gentle slope without a change in pace. He was almost near the top and about to pass over the crest of hill. I decided there was no way I was letting him have it. I burst forward across the front lawn and with one foot up on the garden wall, I propelled myself skyward and forward. I cleared the road, the hedge, and most of the field, landing but a few dozen yards behind Dermot. He swung around to look at me for a fraction of a second, but my vampire eyes caught his peeved expression in that time. He obviously thought he'd left me in the dust. I may have been a vampire for eight months by then, but my newborn strength had not yet fully waned, and the distance between us was rapidly disappearing.

Dermot wasn't about to let me off with a simple race, though.

He made an almost ninety degree turn to the left, heading straight for the mountains. I knew this would be interesting. Under the cover of night, we jumped from hill to hill like a human might traverse stepping stones. As the density of foliage increased, and I heard the sound of lake water lapping in the nighttime breeze, I knew we were entering the national park. I supposed that this solved my feeding problem, but Dermot had other things in mind. He paced up the nearest mountain, bursting through the undergrowth and swinging from the tree branches, propelling himself to the summit. I followed him, reaching an elevation, which provided a striking view of the lakes, the park, and Kilarney not far beyond, all laid out beneath me. I kept climbing. If the finish line was the summit then I was going to make it my mission to beat him there. He was doing a lot of high jumping but still staying relatively close to ground level as he ascended the steep slope. I pulled a stunt then that would leave him with no doubt that my strength had indeed not diminished. I climbed the tallest tree I could find. When I reached the highest branch that could support my weight, I put my foot back against the trunk like an Olympic runner preparing to take off. With one bound that I threw all my strength behind, I was flying through the air, soaring high over the canopy. I saw my target, another tree further up the slope. Just in the moment that I was about to careen into it, I caught the trunk with one hand and swung myself all the way around it in a slingshot manoeuvre.

Off I was again, the highest trees clinging to this stump of a mountain giving way to scraggly bushes beneath my feet.

I was about to meet the slope again as it continued skyward. I braced my legs so I'd land running. I hit ground with the resounding crack of rock underfoot. I kicked up some loose stones and heather as I punched it for the summit. I sensed Dermot just break the tree line and reach the rocky ground. He couldn't have missed what I did. I reached the highest point with him needing exactly one and a half seconds to catch up, an embarrassing gap for any vampire, especially Dermot. He stopped just short of me and greeted me with an irked expression. He said, "Show off."

"Ha! Pot-kettle-black, bitch! You're just sour 'cause you got your ass handed to you by a 'veggie'."

"I bet you used your ability to do those jumps."

"Please, I wasn't gonna give you the satisfaction of even thinking I'd cheated. If I'm gonna kick your ass, I'm gonna do it the right way."

"Cheeky fucker."

At which point he got me in a headlock and proceeded to knudgie me with vampire strength, which wasn't pleasant. Still, I laughed and shoved him harmlessly. He grabbed me then into a brief hug and said, "I missed you, man. You had us worried there for a while."

"I was always coming back, Dermot. I said I would and I did."

"For how long, though?"

"What?"

"Fiona became immediately aware of everything that's happened to you when we met again. She told me about the Cullens along with that stuff about Leah."

In that moment, I was a little hurt and perhaps feeling guilty. After all, I'd willingly accepted Carlisle's offer to join their coven without first considering how it might affect my standing with Fiona and Dermot. With Leah in the picture as well, I had a lot of strong ties back to Forks. I hadn't even questioned that I'd be returning there, that I'd be going back home.

_Home?_

I didn't even associate here with home anymore, at least not in the present tense. It was almost like Ireland was my parent's home, my childhood home, and Forks was becoming my adult home, my home with Leah. I wondered had Fiona seen that, too, even though I hadn't realised it till that moment. I thought maybe Dermot saw the wounded expression on my face when he said, "Wait, man, don't cry or something, we both totally understand. You've found your place."

"_Dermot!_ My place is with you and Fiona."

"It _was_, Jason, but that's okay. Things have moved fast for all of us, but we all have something drawing us away from here. You're lucky you caught me actually. I was just leaving to go back to Wales."

"To Isolde?"

"Ahuh, we've gotten very serious shall we say. I spend almost all my time over there. Fiona understands, and Wales to Ireland is a short hop for a vampires compared to here from Washington State."

"I really feel like I'm leaving you all behind."

"Nonsense, you can still get over here whenever you want, provided you catch up on your homework, schoolboy."

"Bite me!"

"No thanks, Isolde's the only vampire I bite."

"Way, way too much info, thank you."

"You're welcome. Anyhow, my main concern is for my auntie. I wish she had someone when I'm not around. She doesn't allow many humans to get close to her for obvious reasons, and there are few vampires she approves of. I mean I'm her nephew, and she disapproves of me! She just makes it hard for herself. I'd hoped when you were last home that you'd fill in that gap, be like a substitute nephew, and the good one at that!"

"Why thanks, too bad I don't know any single, humane vampires."

"Likewise, well, to hell with the gloom, let's not waste your time here."

"Agreed, did you want to lose to me again?"

"Not likely, I was thinking you could take me hunting, veggie style."

"Really? You're full of surprises, I'll give you that."

"What can I say, curiosity has the better of me. So come on, what's there to it?"

"It's the same as hunting people, Dermot, you're just looking for something different."

"Such as what?"

"…Follow me back into the trees."

I zoomed off, heading down slope towards the denser parts of the park at the foot of the mountains. Dermot wasn't as far behind this time and though I couldn't make him sweat, I was sure going to try my hardest. When we arrived, I turned to him and said, "Okay, what do you hear?"

"I hear cars, people talking…"

"No, no, ignore the town, listen in closer. Listen for the natural sounds."

"…God!"

"What?"

"I never realised how many rodents there were in this shithole."

"Okay, what other animals can you hear?"

"I hear…bugs, a lot of buzzing."

"Anything bigger, any footfalls?"

"…I'm not sure."

"Do you hear the soft thudding on the ground to the north-west?"

"Yes, I think I do."

"Do you smell the source?"

"Yeah, it's a really earthy odour, not exactly appealing."

"Animals are as appealing to vampires as broccoli is to children."

"Point taken, so what now?"

"Now, we hunt."

Once again, I was off but Dermot was not so far behind this time. I could see him engaging his hunting instincts, trying to zone in on an unusual prey item. I could sense competitive urges mounting, but I pushed them aside, focussing on the kill. The red deer was docile and completely unmoving as we burst into its little nighttime abode under a massive oak, unused as it was to predation. My teeth had sunk into its throat before the idea that it might be in danger had occurred and by then, it was all over. I drained the doe dry as life left it before I had finished. However, when I was done, Dermot was nowhere to be seen. I heard his footfalls continuing on, in the direction of town.

_Crap!_

A lot of vampires, even mature ones, had trouble disengaging from the hunt once they were in the midst of it. If Dermot had picked up a human odour while we were on the hunt, it might have completely blinded him to anything else. I shot off after him. I was too late, though. He'd already run into the outskirts of town nearest the park, but he was not hunting. There were plenty of people around. He'd just stopped down a side alley for no apparent reason. I caught up with him. "Dermot, why'd you keep running?" I asked.

"Did you not hear it, feel it?"

"What do you mean? What's going on?"

"While we were hunting, I sensed we were being watched, so I zoned in on the source of the sensation. I thought I heard footfalls."

"Like those of a vampire?"

"Nothing else could have got away from me so quick."

"Are you sure?"

"Almost positive, but we can ask Fiona to be sure."

"Wouldn't she need to know who it was first?"

"You forget she can ascertain facts about a situation by just being in contact with the people involved. Through me, she might at least see a face or at least tell us if it's even someone we know." I nodded. He continued, "I didn't miss your kill by the way. Poor animal didn't stand a chance."

"Thanks, I think."

"I'm not sure I can manage it, I'll be honest. The smell of the blood was just so…unappetising."

"Hmm, it's an acquired taste."

"I'm sure. Let's head back. I'd like to know what this was."

We took a direct, less showy route back to Fiona's cottage. When we arrived in the door, Fiona and Leah were seated on the sofa with Leah having a bowl of Irish stew. She seemed more at ease, even smiling intermittently. On seeing me come in the door, she almost tipped over her meal trying to get to her feet. She was over to me and in my arms in a split second. I held her body close, her warmth bathing me, her breath like fire. Her temperature had not improved, but she was otherwise looking a lot better. I wanted to keep her locked in my embrace eternally, but Dermot was feeling some urgency. "Sorry to interrupt, lovebirds, but you can feel each other up later. We have a problem."

Fiona said, "Dermot, stop being so crude. Now, what's going on?"

"I sensed someone watching us while we were out, a vampire."

Leah looked petrified again, whilst Fiona scrutinised her nephew. She said, "Did they not make contact?"

"No, as soon as they realised I'd made them, they ran. Didn't even catch sight of them. I followed them to the town and after that, they were gone."

"Curious, nomads are rare in these parts, and most are smug enough not to be afraid to show themselves."

"I don't think they were afraid. I felt spied upon, and the spies didn't want their identities known to us."

"A tad dramatic, don't you think?"

"That's my honest feeling, auntie."

"Hmm, this situation is pretty vague so give me your hand. I'll see what I can do."

She held her nephews hand and closed her eyes. Her features often contorted, her eyes scrunched up even as she tried to focus on particular aspects, trying to clarify them as best she could. After minutes of silence, her eyes opened wide. She released Dermot's hand. Her expression was one of surprise, surprise and trepidation. Leah was growing increasingly anxious as she rested her head on my shoulder, holding my hand tight. I stepped forward without letting go, getting pretty rattled myself. "Fiona, what is it? What did you see?"

"I saw your cousin, Jason. I saw Sorcha."

"What?"

"That's not all. She wasn't alone."


	7. Chapter 7: Moments

**MOMENTS**

_Sorcha…_

My stuck-up, bitch of a cousin, the one amongst us who didn't fit and wasn't a welcome addition to our group, at least as far as I was concerned. I'd even come to blows with her when her arrogance exceeded the limits of my patience. She deserted us just before the Volturi arrived after our battle with the Genoan Coven and their newborns. She may well have played a vital role and myself, Fiona, Dermot, and the Irish Coven might well have owed her our lives, but she left at the moment _I _needed her most. The more I thought about it, the more I realised that this was what made me despise her the most, not her egotism, not her petty attack upon me, but the fact that had she stood with Chloe and me, had she demonstrated her own ability when we faced the Volturi, my sister might have survived. I conceded to myself that maybe it wouldn't have made any difference at all. Maybe with her recklessness and her belligerent nature, we'd possibly all have gotten killed. That wasn't the point, however. She abandoned us, but had she remained, I might have been able to feel at least a sliver of respect towards her.

_And now she has returned, and brought friends._

It wasn't as if she'd been kept in the dark about Fiona. She knew her existence was being kept secret not just from the Volturi, but from all but a select few vampires. We couldn't take a chance that the information might filter through the various nomads and covens and reach Aro's ears. Even a rumour about her could draw him here to investigate. I knew from the beginning that Sorcha would be trouble. The sad thing was that this event didn't surprise me one bit. I only wished I'd made a point of finding her before running from the Volturi. I'd have felt better knowing where she was and what she was up to.

_Oh, the joys of hindsight._

Fiona was watching me. She knew exactly what my opinion of the situation was. She disagreed with me on some part of it, probably the degree of harshness with which I regarded my cousin, but she seemed to thinking along the same lines as me in regards her carelessness. Dermot seemed unsure as to how to feel about the situation. It probably hadn't clicked with him yet what exactly Sorcha had done. Confirming this, he said, "Well, woopty-do, Sorcha's made a friend. I pity the poor bastard, but at least we won't have to deal with her."

"It's not that simple," Fiona said, "She may have revealed me to other vampires. This friend of hers might be a potential leak."

"…A leak? Then I suggest we go plug it!"

I said, "We don't know where she is, Dermot. She obviously left in quite a hurry."

"Maybe Auntie here can pinpoint her for us."

Fiona shook her head. "I've been trying, but it's no use. She's obviously travelled a great distance from here since she last left. That along with the time elapsed has weakened my link with her to nothing. Had it been me out there, I might have been able to reconnect with her. As it is, the only reason I could tell it was her watching you was because I'd met her before. Perhaps the lack of any personal bond with her is making it harder, too. After all, I maintained a link with Jason for a considerable time after he departed, and I can always tell where Dermot is."

"Not always a positive, mind you." Dermot added.

Fiona sighed and said, "Anyhow, I did not sense any ill-intent from her. How much I can guarantee that, though, is in question, but perhaps she was just working herself up to coming to see us, and on seeing you two, lost her nerve."

I replied, "I find that hard to accept, but maybe you're right. It is plausible, I guess."

Dermot added, "And maybe the vampire with her was her mate. Though, it's scary to think what person could possibly want to spend eternity with that catty…" Fiona fixed him with a withering look and he faltered, finishing with, "wonderful person with a delightful personality."

Leah, who had been close by my side and hadn't let go of my hand, finally spoke, saying, "So this isn't serious? We're safe?"

I put my arm around her shoulders. Fiona smiled warmly and said, "Of course, dear. Sorcha's choices are inconvenient at best. Hopefully, we'll come across her soon so we can resolve our issues."

"Okay, I'll take your word for it."

Fiona just smiled and said, "Dear, you look very worn. We've all had a long day, but you need to sleep. Can I show you to your room?"

"Okay, is Jason allowed to share a room with me?"

"Am, well, I suppose I allow it when Isolde visits Dermot, but you two are a great deal younger. However, I won't be responsible for separating you, just no funny business under my roof. Understood?"

"Am, ahuh, yeah…"

I shared Leah's embarrassment. I had to ask myself, though, why we were so touchy about that subject. We'd already gotten very intimate and not in a fully clothed state either. I supposed that I at least didn't have much experience in that regard. Leah had told me that Sam had been her only serious relationship. I guess that made us both wary of taking any further steps shall we say. We'd have to eventually confront our anxieties and issues, but that was the proverbial bridge that we'd cross at another date. Fiona directed us to the same room I had occupied before. The bed was perfectly made, showing no signs that it had ever been used. Dermot had already shoved our luggage in a corner near the end of the bed. Leah asked for a moment. I stood beyond the door for a few minutes but when I heard no further movement inside, I cracked the door open carefully. Leah had just gotten into a nightdress, probably the most modest one that Alice had packed, and had already fallen fast asleep, conked out on the pillows with the quilt barely covering her. If it weren't for the fact I could hear her breathing and feel the waves of heat radiating from her sleeping form, I would have believed she was dead. I pulled the quilt up to her shoulders and tucked her in a little better. Despite her warmth, she seemed to welcome the extra insulation, making me believe she really was sick. Her skin was almost too hot for me to touch, as if I would ignite with the slightest graze. So, I sat upon the bed, keeping a watchful eye over her, as she slept so peacefully.

That didn't last.

Through the night, she had nightmares. Her responses to them varied from low murmurs of distress to tossing and turning to screaming and thrashing. In the worst moments, I put my arms around her and that soothed her temporarily. Fiona had to go to work, but Dermot knocked once or twice to ask was everything okay. The morning could not come fast enough. Just after eight, whilst I had been deep in my own thoughts during one of her quieter intervals, Leah lurched upward to a sitting position. She looked stunned for a moment as sweat ran down her forehead. I said, "Leah, what's wrong?"

"I-I…I need the bathroom."

Without another word, she was out the door and hurling herself in the direction of the bathroom. I zipped out to follow her in case she needed help, but she had slammed the door behind her. "Jason, please can you give me a second."

"Is there nothing I can do?"

"No, no! Just go outside please."

Her tone was a little snappy, but I could tell she was just stressed. I did as she asked. I could hear well enough even out in the garden, so I knew she hadn't gotten sick again. It was just then some movement out of the corner of my eye got my attention. Fiona and Dermot emerged from behind the hedgerow that separated the property from the fields on this side of the road as they walked down the road. They were smiling and talking about sheep for some reason. When they saw me, it must have been the expression on my face that made their smiles disappear. They were both in off the road and right in front of me in less than a blink of an eye. Fiona had already ascertained what was wrong. "Jason, if Leah was unwell, why didn't you say something?"

"I thought it was jetlag. We both did."

"I'd better go talk to her. You wait here."

I did not argue but watched her enter the house with anxiousness writhing within me. Dermot said, "It'll be okay, man. Whatever it is, you know my auntie will fix it."

"I hope so."

On turning to him, something caught my eye immediately. His eyes were a strange hue, a reddish orange. I remembered well when I'd last seen that eye colour. "Dermot, you haven't being sampling the veggie counter, have you?"

"Yeah, that…well, yes, maybe I did a little."

"I am gobsmacked. Last night it was like I was asking you to eat dirt."

"Well, it wasn't totally my idea. Fiona learned about what we did last night when she got home from work about an hour ago. She begged me to show her what you'd shown me. She knew it all already like, but she insisted for her first time that I help her out. I wasn't planning to eat anything, but I had to get into hunting mode. I thought I'd smelled the deer again a little bit outside the park. Only when I had broken through the hedges and had drained the poor animal did I realise it was a sheep."

"A sheep?" I chuckled. "You confused a sheep with a deer?"

"They're all animals to me, man. My nose doesn't discriminate as much as yours."

"Clearly, so was it all that bad?"

"It wasn't exactly pleasant. I had to dispose of the body so his owner wouldn't whip up a media frenzy."

"And will you ever do it again?"

"Well, auntie really enjoyed it, and she's really beating me over the head with it. You know the "you have other options" argument."

"_Excuses!_ You liked it, too."

"No, man, I really don't."

"Give me one good reason why not."

"Well…I kind of have a soft spot for…animals."

"You mean to tell me the guy who has no problem picking off gangsters, murderers, and rapists gets squeamish about killing sheep?"

"It's not the same. Those people are evil scum who have it coming. Animals are harmless, innocent, and…"

"Cute?"

"Don't make fun of me for this, Jason."

"Okay, okay, just remind me if you ever visit Washington to introduce you to a grizzly or a mountain lion, then you might revise the whole harmless thing at least."

It was then that Fiona re-emerged. She looked troubled, more so than I expected as I'd thought that perhaps Leah had a stomach flu or some other virus. She regarded me with eyes that had turned a much more orangey shade than Dermot's had. She said, "Leah's all right, Jason, at least as far as I can tell."

"But she's been ill. She has a temperature."

"Yes, but I don't think her symptoms are unusual, all things considering."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"…It has to do with her unique physiology. Beyond that, I will say no more. It's up to her to fill you in on the rest."

Just as Fiona finished, Leah emerged casually dressed with a satchel and looking a little pale. I walked straight to her and took her hands. I said, "Leah, what's up? Are you okay?"

She gently took her hands away and said, "Yes, just fine. Jason, we need to talk, in private."

"Am, all right…"

"I need to run. Catch up with me, okay?"

"Yeah…"

Before me, she transformed into her beautiful wolf form, leapt from the wall over the hedge, and ran off across the fields. I regarded Fiona only briefly before following. Leah did not know this place, and she was heading directly north away from the rocky, hilly country where Fiona's cottage nestled to more populous rural areas and in broad daylight. Farmers would be out at this time, tending to their animals and working their lands. Whatever about me, Leah would not go unnoticed. Just as the ground became more grassy and less rocky with dozens of miles of farmland laid out before us, she turned sharply to the north-east. I didn't know why, but we were passing into Limerick by then and many villages and towns lay in our path. I didn't know what had gotten into her, but this had to stop. I tried to close the gap between us, but she was running fast, a lot faster than the day before. I was almost on her heels when she leapt high into the air, easily clearing a high hedgerow and an ash tree that was at least forty feet high. I hadn't noticed on time and had instead left a Jason-shaped hole in the dense foliage. It was only then that I realised Leah had also cleared a road and an opposing hedgerow on the other side. I leapt over the next one and tried once again to close the distance. To her credit, she seemed to be avoiding any human habitations, but that was still no guarantee of not being seen. She dived down a sudden declining slope through some alder bushes before disappearing out of sight. I followed her through, ploughing my way through briars and black thorns before emerging on the shore of the estuary. I was standing on a beach near where the estuary met the Atlantic. The sand was golden and soft underfoot, little wisps of it catching in the onshore breeze. A few houses were sitting a little further upslope, but I could tell they were unoccupied, probably summer residences. The beach was miles long and almost perfectly flat, only sloping ever so gently to the water's edge where the waves lapped against the sand softly, the waters a vibrant blue under a rising sun.

And there she was, sitting on the sand with the waves breaking against her feet.

Leah had donned a dress of some sort over denim shorts. As I walked cautiously towards her, she did not look back at me. I sat myself down gently beside her, leaving my boots a bit back from the waterline. She seemed troubled, upset and yet there was some relief there. She'd refused my hand before she'd run, so I didn't try that again. I said, "Leah, what's the matter?"

She didn't look at me but replied, "You've told me a lot about yourself, Jason, about your past, your human family, your sister, everything you went through becoming a vampire. Yet, you omitted something, deliberately I think."

"Like what?"

"Like how much human blood is on your hands? What Dermot said last night didn't get passed me. I just chose not to say anything right then."

"Leah, I…"

"Don't get me wrong, Jason. I know that most vampires don't have a clear conscience when it comes to feeding. I know that only Bella, Rosalie, and Carlisle can honestly say they've never tasted human blood. I thought that maybe you might have broke once or twice like the other Cullens, well, maybe not Jasper, but you know what I mean. When Dermot said you'd been a vigilante for a time, I had to reconsider that."

"Was that what your nightmares were about?"

"Some of them, yes, but understand that this won't affect the imprint. I don't think anything can. Now that I've chosen to accept it, I've lost all my will to fight it. I just need to know, Jason, how many were there?"

It took but a moment to tally all my murders, and I shivered at the thought of each one, even though the people I killed were less than human. "Nine, Leah, nine people, all in the space of a day."

Leah's breath caught and then she exhaled. She said, "You were playing the hero, so tell me, what did they do? Who were they?"

"…The first two were a drug supplier and a distributor who'd been responsible for the deaths of teenagers. The next four were the people responsible for making those drugs. The last three were rapists and one would have been a murderer, had I not saved my cousin Sorcha from him."

"Sorcha? You saved her?"

"Yes, I did."

"Was it out of goodness or blood lust?"

Her question was pointed and hurtful, but she had the right to ask. I was a vampire after all, and I couldn't keep what that side of me had wrought from her. "You don't have to believe this, but I wanted to save her. I'm sure if she were here, she'd tell you the same, even as much as we revile each other. You have to understand, Leah, that I did not choose to feed on innocents, I could have but I fought it for more than a week before I came to the decision to hunt down the worst of humanity. It wasn't my right to do what I did, but the people we are talking about don't deserve pity. Maybe they deserved human justice, but we can never know if that would ever have come to them, or what they would have done in the meantime. Leah, you can hate me for what I've done or be disgusted by my choices, but please remember that I could have killed my sister, or any human I've come across since turning. I don't, though, I won't even kill the vilest rapist or the most violent serial killer now. That is what I am now and will always be. A vigilante is what I was for the shortest of times before I found another choice and immediately jumped on it."

"So…you're asking me not to judge you now on what you were before?"

"Essentially, yes."

"…It's hard, Jason. I know those nine people probably deserved to die, but vampires don't kill to be heroes, they kill to feed. Maybe on some level you thought you were doing good, but it always comes back to that for me."

"I can't make any excuses for that, Leah. I needed to feed and as an uninformed newborn, I knew of no other alternatives. The fact that I didn't break and came up with being a vigilante on my own is a miracle in itself. If I'd thought to raid a blood bank, or had I known I could subsist on animal blood, those would have been my first choices. I am what I am, Leah, that blood lust will always be a part of me, but I think what matters are the choices I make now, and I choose to be better than I was, to not be lured by the temptation of human blood. That's the hard route to take, Leah. I could live more easily as a nomad killing indiscriminately or even as a vigilante. Yet, I choose to be better than that, I choose to be with you."

"…I suppose you do…"

"Do you still choose me?"

"As long as you're the you you are now, I think I can accept that you have a past, but I suppose doesn't everybody? Yours is just a bit more colourful."

"I guess, but Leah, trust that I would never hurt you or anyone else. Not now, not ever. I can promise you that."

"You don't have to tell me that. I know you wouldn't. I'm not even particularly mad or upset that you've taken human life, those people would have brought nothing but more misery and death to those around them. I guess I just hadn't really considered it before, and I needed time to work out how I felt about it. I needed to get past the initial shock before I could do that."

"I get that, but just know I was working myself up to discussing this with you. I don't want to keep secrets from you, especially about stuff that matters."

"Then we're okay again, 'cause that's all I needed to hear."

"So have you anything to tell me?"

"Such as?"

"Fiona said your illness is down to something about your nature as a shapeshifter. Can you tell me what that means or were your nightmares just that bad?"

"Hmm, okay, give me a second…it's…I don't know how to say this without being embarrassed."

"You don't have to be. If it makes you that uncomfortable…"

"No, no, it's not serious. It's…a female thing, do you get me?"

"Oh? _Oh_…right…sorry…"

"Don't be, it's gonna happen on a regular basis, at least I hope."

"What do you mean exactly?"

"This – _thing_ – hasn't happened for six years, not since I started shapeshifting. I thought that I had become barren because of it. It was one of the reasons I became so depressed. If I couldn't have children then I wouldn't be able to pass on my genes to the next generation thereby contributing to the tribe, and that meant I would never imprint. I knew I could find someone without imprinting, but I would never get what the others have, what Sam left me for, and I could never have a family."

"That must have been incredibly difficult to live with."

"I couldn't tell you how difficult, well, except to say that I almost chose not to live with it. You can see with that perspective on life why I reacted so badly to imprinting on you, a vampire. I'll be honest, I thought the universe was punishing me some more and that I must have been an awful person in a past life. Thanks to you, a lot of things have changed, especially my outlook."

"So what do you think this means, this _thing_?"

"Who knows? Maybe I can't have exactly the future I imagined, but that's fine, as long as I can have you."

"Forever, Leah, that I promise."

"Forever it is then."

As the morning sun rose higher over the pristine beach, we sat there, locked in each other's gazes knowing that moments like these could be ours for eternity. Taking her into my arms, we kissed, holding on to this one especially, for we had the time, and we would make the most of it.

After hours passed strolling along the beach, invariably ending up holding hands, embracing and kissing in the beautiful sunshine with the cool water sloshing over our feet, Leah's human urges started to kick in. It was after midday then and she hadn't eaten anything since yesterday evening, no mean feat for a shapeshifter. We decided to climb back up a worn road on the steep slope that led down to the beach until we found ourselves back on the main road. Leah still had her satchel with some basics in it like money, ID, and useful numbers. She had re-donned the sandals she had packed, but her dress had become damp at the ends. Unfortunately, the clothes she'd been wearing before were torn to shreds during her change. I suggested we had back to the cottage to freshen up, but she wanted some human time and said she'd rather just go explore, pretend that she actually was just another tourist. After all the supernatural events we'd been through in our lives, I thought I could use some normality, too.

She got out a list of numbers we'd obtained at the tourist info desk in Killarney. We'd made note of a number of taxi services in Kerry and Limerick. The nearest one to hear was in Tarbert. The man who answered was friendly and not at all surprised by our request to be picked up in the middle of the countryside. Apparently, the beach was well known to locals and a great number of them had been using it during the good spell of weather we were having. It was good luck that we'd arrived there so early in the morning, or Leah's shapeshifting might have caused quite a stir. I was fortunate, too, to have enough clothing on to cover most of my skin from the sunshine that would light me up like a Christmas tree. Sure enough, a number of families, most with young children, began arriving in summer attire, carrying beachwear, toy trowels and buckets, and some even had kites. Leah smiled indulgently at them as they walked down the slope with laughter and banter echoing on even as they passed out of sight.

The taxi arrived after another ten minutes. He was dropping off two surfers before we got in. He was an old man, perhaps in his late fifties or early sixties, who was full of questions about us and what we thought of the country. We asked him to bring us to the town of Newcastle West where we hoped to grab a bite to eat, well, Leah did. I wouldn't be having anything that resided in a town. He let us off in the town square. There were some fast food joints, but Leah probably needed something more substantial, plus, I couldn't stand the smell of grease and burnt food wafting out of their doors. We found a nice little restraint tucked into a corner on a street just beyond the square. The smell in there was less intense, which was good for me and more appealing to Leah. We were given a table by a kindly waitress and handed menus. I pretended to browse it, but I would not be ordering. Leah considered her options very carefully for all of two minutes before ordering a chicken salad to start and a sirloin steak cooked rare for the main. The waitress asked me at each course could she not get me anything, and her persistence had not gone unnoticed by Leah who eyed her venomously. Eventually, she accepted that I would only be having water, though I didn't know if that was down to exasperation or Leah's death stare. As she polished of a desert of pavlova and summer berries, I asked, "So, how was that for you?"

"Are you kidding? That was delicious. This little lunch date would be perfect minus the hussy waitress."

"Leah, I think she was just being helpful."

"Oh yeah, she was definitely helping herself a lot to you with her eyes. Just so you know, if she'd gotten handsy, I would have punched her."

"I don't doubt it. So, tourist, what would you like to do next?"

"Hmm, I want you to show me something spectacular."

"Like…?"

"I don't know. Just think of something that's going to blow my mind."

"…Okay…okay, I have something, it'll involve me being not so human, and you'll have to be okay with being carried."

"Deal, let's do this."

We paid our bill and departed much to the dismay of the overfriendly waitress. We walked out of town and went into the surrounding countryside for a few minutes before I gathered Leah into my arms suddenly, to which she made a little yelp, and zoomed off. As I headed south-west, I asked her to close her eyes before I picked up any speed. She did so, scrunching them shut, not even peeking once. Ten minutes later, she opened them to that spectacular sight that she wanted. "Welcome to Mount Carrauntoohil, Leah, the top of the country." I said with a dramatic flourish.

She smiled, but her expression was more gobsmacked than anything else. A lot of her awe probably stemmed from being in a town little over ten minutes previous and then suddenly to be on top of a mountain. At over a thousand meters, the highest point in Ireland wasn't the most impressive peak in the world. I was sure Leah had seen peaks twice and three times this height back in Washington. Still, there was no better view to be had of my homeland, and I wanted her to see that. The air up there was chillier than down below, but the afternoon sun still beamed down on us, and the sky was clear and blue as far as the eye could see, affording views for dozens of miles around. Beyond the nearest peaks, the rolling fields stretched out seemingly forever only to be broken by the glinting of glass in the sunlight, the best we could make out of the villages that seemed so tiny and so far. We could see Killarney, we could see the park, the Shannon River, it was just a spectacle no matter which way we looked. Leah finally spoke, saying, "This is amazing. Thank you."

"Don't thank me. This trip isn't just about me. I want you to enjoy yourself, too. I want you to see the best of my home."

"It's pretty spectacular, all right. It's beautiful here."

"I thought your home was beautiful when I first saw it, so pristine and wild."

"I guess that's what I'm used to, so trees and wildlife don't impress me as much."

"Yeah, I guess. I wish my sister could have seen it, too, though. She would have loved all of that."

Leah turned to me and enclosed my hands in hers. She said, "From everything you've told me, she sounded like an amazing little girl. I'm so sorry for everything that happened to her. No one deserves that. I'm sorry that you lost her."

"Well, I always think of her, but my human memories are vague, and I don't want to remember her after she turned. All that she felt from then on was confusion, manipulation, and terror. I want to remember the little girl who always had a smile for me, who loved me and depended on me when no one else cared. I'd hoped to track down some pictures of her, maybe some of her things. I don't know what's happened to all our belongings or our house, but I want to try."

"We can do that right now, Jason. Just say the word."

"Are you sure you're comfortable with it?"

"Jason, I treasure all my memories of my father, but human memories fade. I have pictures, though, videos, and things he gave me that bring those memories back as if they happened only yesterday. You don't have that, though, but you should, and I want to help you find it."

"Thank you, Leah. That means so much. I love you."

"I love you, too. I think, too, that you should go to the spot where she passed. I know it's not a proper grave, but visiting my father's has helped me in the past, made me feel closer to him. Maybe it'll be the same for you."

"…Maybe, it'll be tough to go back to that place, though. I'm not sure I can handle it."

"I'll be right there with you, Jason."

"Okay, I think I'm ready."

"Okay, where do you want to go first?"

"To my hometown, Kilkee."

Leah just wasn't feeling very wolfy that day, so she piggybacked with me the whole way to Kilkee. As we passed through Limerick and into Clare, roughly travelling parallel to the dual carriageway for Galway, the memories all came rushing back. Last time I had passed this way, I had just butchered six people and was on my way to committing my final three kills. I passed Cratloe in a few seconds, but those forested hills reminded me of the torment my sister had gone through during her change, and the induced insanity that subsequently overtook her. As we pulled away from the dual carriageway into the western fringes of Clare, we intersected the railway tracks, which brought me back to my first hour in this life when I had tried very hard to kill myself. It wasn't long before I found myself on very familiar ground. I knew I shouldn't be doing it in case we were seen, but I found myself following a back road that led into Kilkee. There, just within view was the copse of my youth, my old playground. I let Leah down and wondered over to it warily. So many memories rushed forth as we neared the broken down gate that so uselessly guarded this forgotten place. I remembered childhood days spent in the undergrowth lost in some imaginary world. I remembered the accident that brought forth the blackness and claimed the life of my friend. I remembered my final confrontation with Sophia, last of the Genoans, and I remembered my first taste of animal blood. "It all seems like so long ago." I said to no one in particular.

"What does?" Leah asked.

"Oh, sorry, Leah, this place with the trees and the old farmhouse is where I used to play as a child. It's also where my friend Fionn died, well, just up the road from here."

"You told me about that. Did you want to come this way?"

"No…and yes, I have a lot of conflicting feelings about this place, and I don't mean just here, I mean Kilkee, too."

"You need to focus on the good right now, Jason. As hard as that may be, just try, okay?"

"Okay, let's just get over to the house. It's not far."

When we got there, I found nothing had been disturbed. The little house I remembered so fondly was possibly in need of new paint, but everything else was exactly the same, too much so in fact. The gate was off its hinges and lying in the grass just in front of the garden wall. I remembered how I had charged through it after my change to get away from Chloe before I hurt her. Crime scene tape was flicking in the strong onshore breeze and more was stretched across the door. My car, my dad's and my brother's were all still pulled up outside, all looking a little worse for wear. Nothing had been moved or touched. I marched right up to the front door and tore the tape down before forcibly pushing the door open, breaking the lock. As soon as I went in, I found myself standing in glass shards with bits of wallpaper and insulation littering the ground. The railing of the stairs lay in pieces down the hallway leading to the kitchen. I looked up to the landing to see a gaping hole in the wall where the door to my bedroom used to be. I remembered then how I had torn the place asunder after my change, how I had killed Julian in my fury. Sure enough, at the base of the stairs there were still burn marks where he had fallen. I dared to look to the right into the sitting room. The armchair and sofa were stained a brownish red where blood had dried in. I gulped at the memory of my dad's and my brother's lifeless bodies and how my thirst for their blood had almost overwhelmed everything else.

_Why has everything been left like this?_

Just then, something caught my eye on the ground at my feet. I crouched down and brushed away the dust from a photograph that lay amongst the broken pieces of a frame. It was of me when I was much younger, maybe seven or eight. I was sitting on a bench with trees in the background and sitting on my lap was Chloe as a toddler, we were both laughing. I cradled the creased picture in my hands. This was what I'd been hoping for. This was that memory I wanted so much to have, to hold. Leah crouched down beside me and said, "She was beautiful, wasn't she?"

"Just that smile in itself, she just lit up everything."

"Perhaps there are more memories like this one lying around."

Without a word, I zoomed upstairs. My room was completely open to the landing. The window had been boarded up so only the slimmest shafts of light illuminated the space. My bed lay crumpled against the wall beneath my window. Nothing remained of the furnishings but splintered wood, and all my belongings were in tatters. I couldn't find a book, CD, DVD, or item of clothing that was in one piece. Nothing there made me want to stay. I peeked into my dad's room to see it had been emptied of belongings, only the bed and furniture remained. Chloe's room was much the same, which disappointed me greatly. I had hoped that some of her things might still be there. It wasn't until I checked the box room that I realised that everything had been shoved into that little space. This used to be Chloe's room before my brother Kevin went to college, and she moved into his room. It was tiny with barely room for the single bed and the cupboard at the end. It was nearly impossible to get in with all the boxes stacked inside. I tore them open to find clothes, old school books, some cutlery and kitchen ware, a pile of dad's cassette tapes, a toolbox and various other worthless junk. It struck me that that was all that was left. Undoubtedly, my distant relatives had taken possession of the property and had boxed up everything they deemed to be of no value.

_Hmm, clearly someone on my mother's side got it._

I had ripped open all the boxes, all but one. Inside were the two family photo albums. One was of my parents' wedding day, which interested me very little, the other was the collection of the few photos my mother had ever bothered to take. There were pictures of all our birthdays, our first days at school, our communions, and so forth. It was a treasure throve. I was so overjoyed that I could have cried. There were a few personal items inside, too. Homework journals from school, Chloe's and mine, a few pictures she drew in art class. One was of me holding her hand and running through a field of flowers. They were stick figures and it was done in crayon but in the top-right corner she had written "Bestest brother in the world". Leah was beside me with her arm around me. Tears would have been streaming down my face in that moment if I were able to cry.

I put the picture I'd found downstairs in the album and put everything I wanted in Leah's satchel. We were just about to depart when I sensed movement nearby. I turned to face in its direction. Standing before me was a woman, a woman whose face was faintly recognisable from my human life. When she spoke, the memory flooded back into my consciousness. "Jason?"

"Mrs. Reardon?"

She ran forward and pulled me into an embrace and parted with me a few seconds later. She looked concerned. "Jason, what's happened to you? You feel so _cold_, and you look different."

"It's a long story, Mrs. Reardon."

"Oh, my dear, it doesn't matter. You're okay, you are, right?"

"I am, I promise."

"We'd all feared the worst. I couldn't bear the thought but after what happened to your family, and when you disappeared and then your sister, too, it was hard to ignore. You'd both been presumed dead. They even held a memorial service in the town for you and your family. Then just a while ago, your neighbour just up the road called and said they saw someone going into your house who looked like you. That's why I came down. Where have you been, Jason?"

"I can't say, Mrs. Reardon."

"Well, is your sister with you?"

I looked at the ground. What was I supposed to do? I could have lied and told her she wasn't with us, but she'd already been mourning us, and she had been such an important person in our lives. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Reardon, but Chloe's gone."

She gasped and put her hand to her mouth, tears welling in her eyes. She was such a sweet and caring woman, and I'd have to leave again with no explanation of anything and no clue where I was going. She said, "Jason, I'm so sorry. What happened? Why can't you tell me?"

"Because…because you're safer that way."

"Safer? Are you in some kind of trouble, Jason? Are you in danger?"

"No, but you will be if I tell you anything."

"I don't understand, Jason."

"Believe me, it's better that way. You'll just have to trust that for whatever reason, I'm okay, I'm happy, and I'm safe. Can you accept that?"

"…I suppose I can. I suppose, in the end, that's all I really want to know."

"That's good. Mrs. Reardon, why has my home been left like this?"

"Yes, it's awful, but the Gardaí have done three separate inquiries into your family's deaths and your disappearance, one of them was very recent. Between them, your nearest relatives have been clearing out belongings, mostly valuables. They haven't bothered to repair the damage or clean the place up. They plan to renovate soon, however, and then put the house on the market. The cars are up for sale, too. They hope to sell them to pay for the renovation."

"Figures, well, there's nothing I can do now."

"You could challenge it, Jason. The property belongs to you. Now that you're here, you can…"

"I won't be staying, Mrs. Reardon."

At first, she seemed confused, as if she misheard me, but then her expression became unexpectedly resigned. She said, "I know, it's not safe."

"Well, let's be honest, am I still a suspect in my family's murders?"

"Jason, no one here believes you're responsible for that atrocious act."

"You don't, but do the Gardaí feel the same? You've already told me they're still investigating."

"…I guess I knew all that, and eventually I would have sent you away from here myself, but I just wish you could stay longer."

"You know I'd love to, Mrs. Reardon, but the neighbours have already seen me. How long do you it'll be before word gets around?"

"In Kilkee, not too long at all, I suppose. I see you still have Fionn's chain?" My hand reflexively went to it, my fingers clasping around the Scorpio pendant. I hadn't thought about it in some time, but I had never taken it off. I sometimes forgot it was even there. She continued, "I'm glad you still have that, that you still have some little part of home to remember us by, wherever you are going."

"I could never forget, Mrs. Reardon."

She embraced me briefly once more, and let me go. She looked passed me to Leah and said, "She's a beautiful girl. I'm happy for you. Now go, before the gossip reaches the Garda Station."

I smiled, turned to Leah, and ran away, carrying her at vampire speed, so that Mrs. Reardon, the woman who had been almost a mother to me my whole childhood, would perhaps comprehend something of why I had to go.

I did not stop running until we reached Leitrim. Concentrating on running made it easier not to give in to my overwhelming sadness. Maybe this hadn't been a good idea. Maybe I should have let it all go. It was too late by then. We were ascending the gentle slope that led to the meadow where my sister had died. I reached the peak of the hill, a place I hadn't stood since the battle with Carina's newborns.

It all came rushing back. The wound felt almost fresh, and every second I was there felt like an endless stream of salt pouring into it. I fell to my knees and wept openly as Leah did her best to comfort me. My eyes stung as venom welled in them and yet I could still see everything crystal clear. The craters left by the dynamite were still there, though grass had started to cover them. The whole meadow was the purest expression of summer I could imagine, emerald green grass just visible beneath the diversity of wildflowers, daisies, dandelions, clovers, buttercups all dancing in a mild, gentle breeze. The trees I had scorched with the mind fire were recovering and foxgloves, primroses, and briars in full blossom covered the blackened wood. Butterflies of every variety I could imagine danced among the multitude of flowers accompanied by bees busy at their work. Birdsong seemed to echo from every direction, the sweet melodies of a blackbird, the twittering of swallows zipping over the meadow, and the gentle cooing of a woodpigeon. Where Chloe had fallen was lost in all this beauty, but that didn't matter. No, this was not a grave, but this place was by far more fitting than the cold earth and stone of a cemetery. I cried because I missed her, but I cried in part out of happiness because even in death, she had left an impression of herself on the world.

Sligo Town was bustling with activity. The pavements were crowded, the streets were jammed, and the cacophony was deafening. We had only planned to pass through so Leah could freshen up and get a bite to eat, but there was a number of big music gigs converging on the town that night, and Leah seemed excited, so I suggested we stay overnight. I had already called Fiona to let her know everything was okay, and that we'd be back early tomorrow. After I broke down on the hill above Chloe's meadow, we talked a good deal, mostly about our losses, and we found consolation in each other. She understood I was okay, and I thanked her. I really had needed to do that. I needed to grieve, but I had to let go a little, too, and find some solace in the fact that wherever she was gone, Chloe was happy. It was after that when we had come to Sligo that I decided I wanted to continue our tour, to enjoy this time with Leah. She was thrilled about the accommodation we got. The hotel bar was hosting one of the acts that would be performing, and they had a sizeable dance floor. This fact seemed to excite Leah even more, which made me nervous.

Leah demanded later that evening that I make myself scarce. She wanted to get ready for a night out, and she didn't want me observing every step of the beautification process. I told her she was always beautiful regardless of what she wore or what makeup she put on. She gave a long sigh that said to me "thanks for the compliment, but you just don't understand". I was subsequently shooed out of our little room and made to promise not to burst back in until I was called. I wondered from there down to the bar. The evening light was dwindling. It might have been the summer in autumn this week, but the days were still shorter. I nodded to the barman who had given us a room on short notice on a night like this. He said we were just lucky, but he seemed kindly and friendly. The band was already setting up on a stage just passed the bar, and the dance floor was a big vacant space between them. I knew from the flyers posted on every sign and lamppost that they were going to be performing a mix of traditional and modern Irish music. I toyed with an idea and decided to give it a shot.

About an hour later, I got the call from Leah and not a moment too soon, the band was due to kick off at eight, and we had about five minutes to spare. I ran up to our door just in time to see Leah step out. I stopped dead in my tracks. She wore a to-the-knee black dress with a fitted bodice with a little bit more movement from the waist down. Her hair was perfectly straight, framing her face upon which she'd applied an alluring makeup look of smoky black eyes and red lips. She wore that three-quarter length leather jacket again but this time with heels. I was speechless. Leah said, "I'm sorry, but this is the best I could do. Most of the makeup I bought in the supermarket, and I got the dress and the shoes from some place called _Dunnes_."

"Are-are you kidding?"

"Why? What's the matter? Am I smudged?"

"No, no, you look…spectacular. You're gonna bowl everyone in this town over when they see you."

She smiled nervously and then said, "Okay, stop that, you'll make me blush, and the foundation I got was crap."

"It wouldn't lessen your gorgeousness."

"All right, all right, I surrender. Get down those stairs, sweet talker."

We laughed and we teased each other, but I really couldn't get her out of my mind. She really was an amazing beauty. How in the world did I get the fortune to find her, let alone have her fall for me? Perhaps the magic of her tribe was involved and maybe higher powers wanted things to be so, but I wouldn't let that put a damper on what we had. After all, we were a pretty unique couple, brought together by crazy circumstances, and I intended to celebrate that with every moment I spent with her.

I was right. As soon as we went downstairs into the bar, everyone literally stopped to ogle Leah. I could tell what they were thinking, am I seeing things? Are you a mirage, did I bang my head, or are you actually real? Leah got shy then, but it all went straight to my head. I doubt I could have puffed up any further without popping. Even the band's guitarist nearly wrecked his instrument when he lost his grip on it whilst openly gawking at her. The lead vocalist was a woman, and she quickly stepped in, smacking him smartly across the back of the head. Clearly, they were involved. Leah and I giggled to ourselves. I bought her a drink as the bartender introduced the band over the microphone. She said, "Jason, are you trying to get me drunk?"

"Would I do such a thing?"

The band started up then, and a bigger crowd of latecomers started to pile into the already packed pub. The first five or six songs were traditional numbers like the "_The Wild Rover_", "_I'll Tell Me Ma_", "_The Black Velvet Band_", and, of course, "_Whiskey in the Jar_", and the "_Fields of Athenry_". A bout of improvised Irish dancing broke out towards the end, which Leah and myself tried with limited success, but we laughed through every second. They then moved on to more modern songs by artists like _U2_, the _Cranberries_, the _Coronas_, and the _Script_. We danced a little, but it was mostly a jumping on the spot, hands in the air sort of thing, there wasn't room for much else. A good number of people started to filter out by the ten mark, most probably off clubbing or pub crawling between the various gigs. The dance floor freed up a bit just as a song called "_The John Wayne_" started to play. I wasn't sure of the artist or even if the song was originally Irish but after an initial slow verse, everyone got to their feet as the band kicked up the tempo. Leah literally dragged me into the middle of the floor after shedding her jacket. She started to dance up against me, her hands in the air. Her dress swayed and each movement brought wave after wave of her sweet perfume and her own intoxicating scent. She turned her back to me, her hands linked behind my head, my own hands on her hips as she continued to grind against me. The craving for her blood was strong but overwhelmed by a much sweeter desire for her skin on mine. She turned again, this time putting her arms around my shoulders and pulling herself in for a kiss. It was deep and passionate. I felt that at any moment I'd lose control. She knew what her scent was to me, what her taste, her touch was doing. She was pushing me to the edge, and I was exhilarated by it. It was in the midst of that intensity that the lead vocalist made the announcement. "Okay, everyone, this next number is dedicated to a lady in the audience by the name of Leah from Jason. This one's for you."

The violin came in first followed by the guitar. The tempo was slower than the original, but that was perfect. We slow-danced in the middle of the floor as the lead vocalist began:

_Say it's true_

_There's nothing like me and you_

_I'm not alone_

_Tell me you feel it, too_

_And I would runaway…_

Leah and I looked into each other's eyes deeply as everything else faded away but that sweet melody and the meaning of the words.

…_I would runaway with you_

'_Cause I am falling in love…with you_

_No never, I'm never gonna stop falling in love with you…_

The song continued but we were lost in each other, blind to everyone, everything. As the final chorus came and went and the band played through their set, we just stood there mesmerised. Then Leah took my hands and led me to the stairs. We moved up with a slow pace, both of us captivated but a little anxious, too. However, when we reached our door, Leah turned to face me, my body pressed against hers, her heat radiating through my clothes, sinking into my skin. I reached around her to unlock the door and it swung open slowly. Leah looked at me and any nervousness melted away. She pulled me inside and slammed the door shut.

I had not taken my eyes off her the whole night. It was something special to just lay there and watch her sleep. She was so sweet and peaceful when she slept soundly with the slightest of smiles across her lips and her hair every so often falling across her face. I brushed it back and tucked it away each time and each time she would smile and make the smallest sound of contented satisfaction. I found myself tracing a line down from her face to her arm and on reaching her hand, her fingers would clutch on to mine. I was still trying to get to grips with what had happened between us the previous night. I was overloaded with sensations, her intense warmth soaking all the way to my bones. I felt nothing but dreamy happiness. The whole night had been nothing but passion and heat and love and belonging, knowing that this was perfect, this was forever and most incredibly, this was ours.

She began to stir. Her eyes fluttered open. On seeing me, she smiled and said, "Hey you."

"Hey."

"Have you been there all night?"

"Well, I don't sleep and there isn't a better place to be."

"Hmm, I didn't like the idea of being watched sleep before."

"And now?"

She leant up to kiss me, her fiery palm pressing into the cold skin of my chest. My hand found her face, and I turned over until I was almost on top of her. She parted from me and said, "Ah, ah, as much as I'd like a repeat of last night, we promised Fiona we'd be back early, and that means getting ready and freshened up."

"Can it not wait just a few minutes more?"

"Stop that! Bad! Bad boy, hehe. We don't have time. I need to shower. You don't sweat so you have nothing to worry about."

"Who says we can't have it both ways?"

The second time was no less intense than the first. Being in the shower with the water beating down on us just added to the torrent of sensation that flared through my whole body. I sometimes had to check myself in case I got too intense with her, as my vampire strength could easily break a bone. Leah told me that she didn't really bruise much, so the pressure I was applying to her skin didn't affect her, well, not in any negative ways. After the longest shower known to man, Leah slapped me over the back of the head as we got out, cursing me for distracting her but smiling giddily all along. Even as we grabbed our things and left through the pub, I was in a haze of contentment. At one point, Leah had to turn me around because I was heading north instead of south. When we left town, Leah decided that going wolf would save a lot of time, so I took the lead and headed in the general direction of Limerick where we'd round the estuary to go to Kerry. After five seconds, though, I realised she wasn't with me. I quickly doubled back and came back to her side. I asked, "What's up, Leah?"

"Something's wrong."

"What?"

The concentration on her face was intense. The heat emanating from her body created a visible aura around her. When she released herself from her tensed state, she fell to her knees, gasping for breath. I cradled her face in my hands. "Leah, Leah, what's the matter? Please tell me." I asked.

She replied weakly, "I…I can't change."

Without a second's hesitation, I scooped her up and powered southward as fast as my newborn strength would allow. Everything flew by in a blur. I was only focussing on what was straight ahead, not even making sure I wasn't seen. I traversed the whole distance in little more than twenty minutes. I shouted for Fiona as soon as we arrived, probably louder than was strictly necessary, but I wanted to convey urgency. Fiona leapt out her front door followed by Dermot. At this point, Leah was almost faint. She'd clearly overtaxed herself trying to change. Fiona asked, "What's the matter, Jason?"

"I was hoping you could tell me. Leah can't change form for some reason."

"That's not my area of expertise, Jason."

"I know it's not medical, but perhaps you can find out the other way."

"Okay, I'll try it."

She took Leah's hand and closed her eyes. She dropped it but a second later. She looked astounded. I looked to her for an answer and when none was forthcoming, I asked, "Fiona, what is it?"

"Her body won't change form because it is protecting another."

"What?"

"She is with child, Jason."


	8. Chapter 8: Surprises

**SURPRISES**

"Twenty minutes until we land." The pilot announced over the plane's intercom.

No more than a second had passed between Fiona telling me what was wrong with Leah and me whipping out my phone and scrolling down to Carlisle in my contacts. I paused for a moment of hesitation when his name became highlighted on the screen. I felt anxious, scared even, as if I were calling home to tell my parents that I'd gotten a girl pregnant. I feared his disappointment more than anything else, for I knew he wouldn't be overtly angry or critical. One glance back to Leah's unconscious form in Fiona's arms pushed me passed that childish anxiety. This was more important than that by far. The phone call, in the beginning, was almost as unpleasant as I thought it would be. At first, when Carlisle answered, I couldn't speak except for a series of "ams" until he finally told me to calm down and tell him what the matter was. In that moment, I just blurted out that Leah was pregnant. There was silence on the other end for just enough seconds to make me feel even more ashamed before he asked if I was sure. When I told him that Fiona had confirmed it, he simply told me that he would call me back in exactly five minutes and tell me what to do. The line went dead.

_Okay, so that trumped my worst-case scenario._

While I waited with agitation making it impossible to stand still, I looked pensively over at Leah. Her face had been burning red when she'd tried to change, but it had gone pale. Her breathing was shallow and her breaths were short. Fiona said she might be going into shock and that we needed to do something immediately. I looked at the digital display on my phone. It had been five minutes. I almost screamed at the phone to make Carlisle hurry up. Just as the fifth minute had elapsed, my ringtone sounded and I answered, my voice rife with desperation. "Hello."

"Jason, I apologise. That took slightly longer than I anticipated."

"What did?"

"I've chartered a private jet to pick you all up. It'll land at the nearest airport to you, which goes by the name of Farranfore I believe."

I looked hopefully at Fiona. She said, "I know it. It's only a few miles from here."

Carlisle continued, "It's departing from Heathrow as we speak. It shouldn't take more than an hour to reach you. When you board, it will immediately take off and fly to a small airstrip in Washington. It's a little closer to Forks than Seattle. We will be waiting when you arrive."

"Thank you, Carlisle."

"Of course, Jason, do not worry. We will do our best for Leah. Just get her back here, and I can look after the rest."

"Okay, I'll do that. See you soon."

I hung up. Fiona said, "Go, grab your things, and Dermot, pack a bag for us. I can keep Leah stable." I hesitated as Leah's half-open eyes drifted over to me. Fiona said, "Jason, she'll be fine. Her condition is not severe. I just need to keep her warm and hydrated. I'll be with her the whole time."

"Okay, okay, please just look after her."

"I will, now go."

Dermot and I shot into the house at vampire speed. I raced into my room, took stock of everything in a fraction of a second, and began packing without slowing my pace. Luckily, we hadn't taken much of our copious luggage out, so I was done in under a minute. Dermot was faster, having only stuffed some clothes and toiletries in a duffle bag. He took some of the bags off me until we were carrying an even amount and then we returned to the garden. Fiona had already wrapped Leah in a warm blanket and had her sitting up as she tried to get her to drink something hot. I dropped the bags and crouched down to her. She sipped the drink gingerly before dozily turning her head to face me. She smiled at me and said weakly, "Hey…"

"Hey, you, how's my Leah?"

"I feel…very sleepy…"

Fiona interjected, "I know, sweetheart, but you have to stay awake, okay?"

"What happened? Why…"

"Why what, Leah?" I asked.

"Why am I so tired?"

"It's okay, I promise. You tried to change, but your body…isn't up for that right now. We're gonna bring you home, and Carlisle will fix you up, make everything better, okay?"

"Okay…I love you."

"I love you, too, my Leah."

"…I…like that."

"That's good, I'll have to say it more often."

Fiona interrupted once more, "Jason, we really need to get a move on."

"Okay, will I take her?"

"No, I will. I need to keep an eye on her."

"Fiona?"

"Yes, Jason?"

"What am I going to do?"

"…I don't know but from what I've gleaned, this is something the Cullens have experience with. I just hope for Leah's sake that this works out better than it did for Bella…because Leah can't become one of us."

It was then that the reality of the situation hit home. Bella almost died giving birth to Renesmee. If she had not been injected with vampire venom and become one of us then there was no way she would have made it. If Leah's pregnancy was similar…No, I couldn't even contemplate it. What had I done to her? Had I condemned the woman I love to death after being together for a matter of weeks? I wanted to scream, to cry, I wanted to die if she didn't make it because I couldn't take another loss like this. I tried to internalise my self-condemnation as best I could. However, as we ran for the airport, I often got concerned looks from Fiona or Dermot, probably because of my stricken expression. I just dipped my head as we bounded away from the rocky landscape and down into the lowlands.

Farranfore could scarcely be described as an airport. It had one runway and a puny terminal building. It served mainly domestic flights but occasionally, international aircraft came a calling, most of them being private aircraft whose owners wished to see the wilds of the Emerald Isle.

We did not use the terminal building for obvious reasons. We circled to the far end of the runway, leapt the perimeter fence, and waited. About half an hour later, we heard the engine noise of an approaching aircraft. Then, we saw it, a sleek, white plane descending rapidly towards the runway. The plane came down unusually fast and hit the runway with a bump and a loud squeak of its wheels on tarmac. It came to a stop halfway down the length of the runway. A side door opened and a man looked around hopefully, as if he was searching for something. We had been hid behind some shrubbery that lined the edge of the tarmac. We moved up until we were level with the plane's tail section and stood. The man saw us immediately and there seemed to be some hint of recognition about the look he gave us. When we did not move, he waved us on with an urgent expression. We scuttled up to the door with our clandestine boarding being hid from view of the terminal by the plane's body. As soon as we boarded, Fiona brought Leah straight to a sofa seat nearest the entry door and laid her down with the blanket over her. The man introduced himself as Mr. Andrews, an associate of Carlisle who he had done business with before. He had told the airport control that the plane had experienced a technical fault and had to make an emergency landing. Of course, the airport had acquiesced to this request. Mr. Andrews had even made a show of a rough landing for the benefit of the people in the terminal. He assured us, though, that even as we spoke, his co-pilot was already reassuring the staff at the airport that the fault was minor and that they did not require assistance. No more than ten minutes later, we'd taxied around and were back in the air, heading out over the Atlantic.

Even flying direct, it took half a day to reach Washington. Leah came out of shock in that time but was still exhausted and so slept most of the way. I did not leave her side, holding her hand through the whole flight. Fiona checked on her at regular intervals but besides that, all three of us sat in silence around her. A few minutes after Mr. Andrews made the announcement, I looked out a window, and I did not like what I saw. We weren't near civilisation by any means. All I could see was forest and the mountains in the distance. I made my way up to the cockpit. Mr. Andrews and his co-pilot seemed unfazed by the view out the window, but I went into panic mode. I said, "What the hell is this?"

Mr. Andrews replied, "It's quite all right. We're nearly down."

"On that? You call that an airstrip?"

"Well, granted it hasn't seen much use since the Cold War, but it'll do. I've landed on worse."

"What could be worse than this?"

"A glacier, perhaps?"

"…Okay, point taken."

"All the same, I think you and your fellows should buckle up."

"You'll get no arguments from me."

It wasn't like we couldn't survive a plane crash, provided it didn't explode, but that would be without Leah onboard. Nevertheless, it had occurred to me that jumping out right about then would be safer. Fiona and Dermot would land on their feet without a scratch, and I could use the blackness to break my fall as I carried Leah. Well, if Carlisle trusted this guy to get us home in one piece then I would have to, too. I sat down, buckled in, and put my arms around Leah's sleeping form as the ground came up to meet us. Suffice it to say that it was just as horrendous as I had anticipated. We hit so many bumps that I was surprised we weren't thrown against the ceiling despite our seatbelts. When we finally came to a grinding halt, Leah had just stirred awake, and I was glad she was spared that ordeal. She said, "Jason…what's going on?"

"Leah, it's okay we're home, we're home."

"Jason, we were…weren't we at the cottage just a second ago?"

"No, you've been asleep for over twelve hours."

"What? I never sleep that long."

"Well, you did. You were pretty tired."

"Jason, what's going on? Why did we come back?"

"Do you not remember anything?"

"No, Jason, I'm freaked out. What's wrong? You look scared."

A lump formed in my throat. She knew nothing. She'd heard nothing we'd said. How was I supposed to tell her that she was pregnant and could potentially die because of it? Would she hate me then? Maybe imminent death might finally dissolve the bond of the imprint. Maybe I was losing my mind. I didn't know. I didn't care. All I cared about was Leah and her wellbeing. I would lose her if it meant she would live. I was just about to open my mouth when Mr. Andrews appeared. He said, "Well, your compatriots are patiently waiting outside."

He opened the door and a few moments later, Carlisle stepped on to the plane. He first shook Mr. Andrews hand but glanced over at us faster than human eyes could pick up. He said, "Mr. Andrews, it's been a while."

"Indeed, I've missed your company."

"And my cheques, no doubt."

"Well, a man has to earn a living."

"Indeed, speaking of which…"

Carlisle handed him an envelope that seemed very thin. Mr. Andrews unsealed it and slipped the piece of paper inside out just enough to read. His eyes went a little wild for a minute, but he composed himself and said, "Why, Carlisle, this is mighty generous of you."

"You got us out of a bind on very short notice. A man also deserves just rewards for his work."

"No kidding, well, I best be off. It's not like I sought permission to land here. Until we meet again, Carlisle. If you ever need a covert pickup again, let me know."

"You'll be the first I call." He then turned to me proper. "Jason, would you like to bring Leah outside? We have a vehicle waiting."

I nodded and scooped her up. As I made my way down the steps, I heard him comment. "Strong kid, yours?"

Carlisle replied, "Yes, yes, he is, I'll leave you to your pre-flight."

I smiled inwardly. Perhaps I hadn't disappointed my adopted father as much as I'd thought, or uncle, or whatever.

Only Carlisle and Esme had come out to collect us. The four by four weaved through some treacherous dirt roads until we got back onto the main highway. Esme had been full of consolation and comfort, not showing a hint of negative emotion towards me. Oddly, on some levels that made me feel awful. It was an hour before I began to recognise the landscape around me, and I knew we were nearly there. Leah was a lot more alert then and stayed clutched to my side, but she didn't speak much. She didn't ask me what was wrong anymore either. I thought that maybe she'd figured it out but if she had, she showed no hint of it. Her expression was unreadable. As we came through Forks and up the path that led up to the house, I grew apprehensive. Esme and Carlisle might have been all support, but there was no guarantee about the others. I was sure Emmett and Alice would have my back, but Edward and Bella, after everything they had been through with Renesmee, would undoubtedly be more critical of me and my recklessness.

_Jacob, well, need I hazard a guess? _

If what I'd learned about his reaction to Bella's pregnancy was anything to go by, his opinion on this case would be vehement to say the least. Bella had a chance, a small one, but she miraculously pulled through. Leah had no such hope, no escape route. Either she survived as she was, or she didn't. It was as simple as that. I braced myself for what would most likely be a storm of criticism at best, more likely though a hurricane of fury and possibly violence. As we pulled up outside the porch, there was no one waiting. I guessed they were all waiting very patiently inside as always. Esme and Carlisle got out first and walked slowly to the porch, escorting Dermot and Fiona. They all seemed to be making proper introductions, shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries. I turned to Leah. "Are you okay to walk?"

"Yes, I'm fine…Jason?"

"…Yes?"

"I'm pregnant, aren't I?"

I put my arm around her, thinking it wouldn't be there for long. I replied, "Yes, you are. You can't change because of it, Leah. That's why you fell ill. You exhausted yourself trying."

I expected anger, I expected condemnation for what I'd done or, at the very least, I expected hopelessness. I did not expect her to smile. She did so broadly, her eyes watering. I thought maybe she was going into hysterics, but she snuggled up against me. "Thank you," she said, "You've given me everything."

"Leah?"

"I'm so happy. I can't believe it, a child, with you. I'd resigned myself to thinking it wasn't possible."

"But, Leah, have you thought about…"

It was then I sensed them. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I smelled them, too. They couldn't do it. They wouldn't dare. I knew the rules. They could not harm each other or the subject of another's imprint. Perhaps, though, they deemed this pregnancy too much of a threat. After all, they were willing to kill Bella once. The blackness seared its way through my mind, the heat rising. I would defend us at the expense of everything, even our alliance with the Quileutes. However, when they emerged from the nearby undergrowth, they were all in human form, Jacob and Sam leading both packs. Fiona and Dermot looked startled by their appearance, Fiona more so because she could probably sense the specifics of the situation. Esme looked perturbed, but Carlisle maintained a calm demeanour as always. I looked at Leah. She said, "Let's show ourselves. They don't want to fight."

I nodded my assent and opened the door. I stepped out first, and Leah followed, our hands tightly entwined. We went to join the others, but Sam and Jacob interceded. Seth was not far behind. He came around Sam's hulking form and reached out to his sister. "Leah, are you okay?" He asked.

"Yes, Seth, I'm fine."

Jacob interjected, "We find that hard to believe."

"Well, I'm not lying. I'm okay."

"For now, you are. I don't think you'll be able to say that in a month."

Sam added, "Leah, you know how this ends."

Something about his tone irritated me. It was too _familiar_. I had already met Sam several times and his past with Leah hadn't bothered me so much until this moment. I had to choke down a growl as he looked at her all concerned. Leah answered in an impassive tone that made me quite pleased I had to admit. "Thank you for your concern, Sam, but I know nothing, not until Carlisle fills me in."

"What can he tell you other than you're going to die?"

"What makes you so sure?"

"Do I need to remind you about Bella?"

"And she's alive and well."

"As a vampire, Leah, and you don't have that option."

"Well, I'm not Bella. I am not human, not in the traditional sense. I am stronger, and I will deliver this child, and he or she will have a mother. That is all there is to it."

Sam and Jacob regarded each other, and Jacob said, "Well, you know that nothing's going to come of this, even if the worst happens. You are one of us, this is your choice, and he is your imprint. We can't harm him because that is our law, and we would never hurt you because we never even considered it. We know Renesmee is not a threat to us or other humans, so we agree that your child won't be either. Hell, it's half Quileute, which under other circumstances I'd think was kind of cool."

Sam seemed somewhat exasperated but said, "We'll leave now. Let us know what the prognosis is."

"Of course, please don't mention anything to my mother until I've had a chance to talk with her."

"It's not my place, so don't worry."

Sam's pack was turning to depart. Jacob moved towards Carlisle as Seth stepped towards his sister. "Can I have a minute?" He was looking at me with accusatory eyes, though his expression was solemn, as if he'd resigned himself to something. I barely acknowledged his request but just smiled at Leah as I moved away. She let go of my hands reluctantly but clearly, she wanted to speak with her brother. Seth knew he wasn't getting any actual privacy. Everyone in the house would be able to hear the conversation loud and clear from as far as the highway. Still, it was the appearance of it that mattered. "Leah, there's another choice, you know."

"Is there now?"

"You might want to consider it, Leah, especially if this gets as bad as Bella's pregnancy."

"I won't get rid of it, Seth. That was never even a thought."

"Leah, please. When Bella had Renesmee, when we thought she'd died, that was sad for me, but Bella was just a friend. I can't go through that with my sister. I can't lose you, especially with dad gone, too. I mean have you considered what this will do to mom when you don't make it?"

Leah looked at the ground but then faced her brother saying, "I hope she accepts my choice to put my child first. If I was having a normal human child and some condition meant I wouldn't survive the birth, but I chose to go ahead with it regardless, she'd understand that. I need you to, as well. I _need_ you, Seth. Please don't give up on me just yet, please."

"But what if you do go? What do you expect of me? To be a chummy uncle to…whatever you have? Leah, I don't care what you're having. I don't care if it's like Renesmee or not. All I'll be able to think when I look at it is that you took my sister from me. Look, I need some space. I'm not going to abandon you through this, but I need time to think this through."

"Okay…"

"But Leah, as soon as your heart stops beating, as soon as you're gone, that's it. I don't care what comes of this after that. Your bloodsucker can play daddy here if he wants, but I won't do anything of the sort."

"I hope you don't mean that."

"…Hope away."

Seth turned and disappeared into the woods in the opposite direction that Sam's pack went. As soon as he disappeared, I heard him go wolf and bound away into the distance. Leah stood there, head dipped, shoulders slumped. She turned towards me, walked over calmly but then fell against me. I thought she was just upset but as she began to fall lower towards the ground, I caught her up and said, "Leah, what's wrong?"

"I feel…really weak all of a sudden."

Carlisle stepped forward. He said, "The foetus is likely already demanding a lot from Leah's body. We need to get her upstairs. I'll need to run tests anyways."

"Okay, I'll bring her."

"It's okay, Esme and I will take her. I'll need some time with her, Jason."

I hadn't had any intention of leaving her side, but Carlisle seemed adamant in his polite way. I replied, "All right, just let me know when I can see her."

"Of course."

I touched her face. I said, "I love you."

She smiled weakly and barely murmured a response, but she understood. That was all that mattered to me. Esme carried Leah whilst Carlisle turned to Fiona. "Ms. McMahon, I understand you are also a doctor."

"That I am. I started as a midwife but I've practiced for several decades now."

"Excellent, having another opinion and another professional on hand will be quite helpful."

"Whatever I can do."

"My offices are this way. Perhaps you can tell me about your experiences with human patients, especially regarding the blood lust…"

They continued on inside and upstairs discussing their different experiences in trying to help humans without succumbing to their inherent nature. I just watched them ascend the stairs and disappear out of sight with Leah. I was my keeping my ears open to try and hear what Carlisle was saying when Alice appeared at my side. Her expression was bewilderingly steely, and I was caught off guard when her hand came up and smacked me across the head with all the strength her little body could muster, which was still quite a lot. I actually went flying for several feet before toppling over the sofa. I stood again in a fraction of a second but they were all there then, my adopted siblings, all with arms folded, all with reproachful expressions on their faces, except of course for Emmett, obviously. To further impress upon everyone his lack of seriousness regardless of the circumstances, he said, "Tut-tut, seems our youngest brother has been a _very_ naughty boy. Knocking up the neighbours, Jason, really? I thought I'd taught you better."

Alice, to my surprise, turned and said, "Emmett, give it a rest. Unless you want a smack, too."

"Okay, okay, geez, just trying to lighten the mood."

Bella said, "Jason, I don't get it. Did you not learn from my experience? Leah has no way out now. I, at least, had a slim chance."

Edward added, "I just hope you're prepared, Jason. If you love Leah as much as I know you do, this will be torture."

Alice stepped towards me and said, "Seriously, Jason, I know you're a teenager with all sorts of hormones flying around and even the most reserved of us knew you two would probably end up doing the deed at some point, but this situation could have been prevented."

"How exactly?"

"Well, did you not look in that travel bag I gave you at all?"

Frustrated, I replied, "I did but when the first thing I saw was the word _Durex_ staring back at me, I decided to give it a miss."

"Ugh! Prude!"

Edward stepped forward then and said, "You know, Alice, that probably wouldn't have worked at all."

"Why not?"

"Well, you know, with the venom they'd probably just…burst."

If it were possible for a vampire to look nauseated then that's what Edward seemed in that moment. Alice threw her eyes to heaven as Emmett said, "Well, aren't we just great? All of us over half a century at least and we can't even not cringe when giving the talk."

Alice answered, "Well, it wasn't like the talk existed in Edward's day. Couples barely held hands till marriage and then they just had to figure out the mechanics by themselves. I guess trial and error is fun in that regard, though."

Edward looked distinctly discomfited at this stage. Bella rubbed his back in a comforting way as she said, "Well, I think the talk is a bit redundant at this point. Look, Jason, I know it looks like we're ganging up on you, but we're very concerned, for both you and Leah. We just don't want to see you get hurt, and we can't see at the moment how that's not going to happen."

Rosalie interjected, "Don't baby him, Bella. He needs to realise that in a month's time he may be a lone father, and that their recklessness is the reason why."

I put my hands up and said, "Okay, I already knew all this. I knew it as soon as Fiona told me she was pregnant. I did learn from Bella's experience, but I never believed that I would, that I _could_ experience it, too. Neither did Leah. We didn't think it was possible for her to conceive with a vampire."

Rosalie said harshly, "But why else would she imprint on you? The Quileutes imprint on those who will bear the strongest offspring for the tribe. If you couldn't get her pregnant then you two wouldn't have happened."

That stung and was unnecessary to say in my opinion. Maybe it had some underlying truth to it, but it wasn't what I believed. I believed there was more to it than procreation, more to it than some primitive instinct to choose the strongest mate. I believed the imprint meant to bring us together out of compatibility, to bring us happiness, too, so we could live our lives as such and since we might be having a family, it meant we would raise our children in a loving home. I wasn't going to argue that point with Rosalie, though. If she scoffed at it, I might just have ripped her head off, and I was sure Emmett would object to that. I ignored her comment. I noticed Dermot in the background along with Jacob. Neither of them were going to intervene, but Dermot seemed conflicted. I finally decided that I'd had enough. I was too riled up and too anxious for Leah to be dealing with any more comments. Edward sensed this and said, "Look, everyone, I think we've made our point. Jason may be young, but he doesn't need any more lecturing from us. Let's just give him some peace. He's in for a hard enough time as it is."

Rosalie turned to him in dismay before saying to me, "I guess he's right. I suppose Leah dying before you for the next month will be reminder enough of your thoughtlessness."

I had been angry at her a moment before but though I still was, the thought of Leah slowly wasting away whilst being beaten internally by the foetus made me want to weep openly. Rosalie just stomped off. Still, I wouldn't give her the satisfaction of seeing me break down. I shoved passed everyone and ran outside. I needed to feed anyways, but that thought dissolved when I was out of sight of the house. I fell against a tree and started to pound on the bark, shouting all the while. I'd nearly torn out a third of the trunk before I slumped down to the ground crying.

_What is wrong with me? Why is this happening to me? I get one life taken away from me, I get a second chance, and I ruin it myself._

I heard several footfalls approaching, and I quickly composed myself, my expression hardened by anger. I stood as Alice and Emmett came from one direction whilst Dermot arrived from the other way a few seconds after. They regarded each other bemusedly for a moment and then tried to speak, but they accidentally cut each other off several times before I said, "Look, guys, I know you're all here to cheer me up or something, but the only thing that's gonna do that is if Carlisle tells me that Leah's going to be okay. So thanks, but you'll just be wasting your breath."

Emmett said, "Well, man, don't just sit out here alone. I'm sorry for what Rosalie said, but this is not going to make you feel any better."

"And being verbally beat into the dirt is? Like I said, only one thing will make me feel better, but that doesn't mean that I can't feel even worse, and all the comments and looks and walking on eggshells are going to do exactly that, so excuse me if at this moment I prefer the company of trees."

Emmett seemed taken aback by that and offended, but in a hurt sort of way. I couldn't blame him. The only thing he knew to do in bad situations was to be the big brother and try to make you laugh or at least smile because, to him, that meant everything was better, but I was so far beyond that kind of cheering up. Dermot, too, had an equally stunned expression. I guess he hadn't seen me get so ratty before. I cooled off the temper just a bit and said, "Okay, that was harsh, and I'm sorry. What I meant to say is that, right now, I just need some air. Can you just give me that for just a little while?"

They all nodded and were about to turn and leave when I said, "Emmett, hold up."

"Yeah?"

"Can you do me one favour?"

"Shoot."

"Can you keep Dermot company?"

Dermot interjected, "Jason, seriously, I'm not clueless on my own, you know."

"I know that, but Carlisle, Esme and Fiona are probably engaged in some intense conversation about their common and differing experiences on top of working on Leah. I feel bad leaving you hanging in a group of people who you don't know."

"I think I could've managed."

"Eventually, yes, but for the moment, Emmett's your buddy."

Emmett asked, "Is there anything I'm supposed to do?"

"Well, you both like sports, you both think you're comedians, and you both like blondes, so work from there."

The two of them regarded each other speculatively for a moment, and then Emmett asked, "Do you know anything about baseball?"

"No, do you know anything about hurling?"

"No."

"Then I suppose we have something to talk about."

They started walking off towards the house slowly. I kept tabs on their conversation a few minutes longer. Emmett asked, "So blondes, huh?"

"Yeap, got a Welsh gal back home, name's Isolde. I assume the fiery lady is your mate."

"You assume correctly."

"No offence but is she not a lot to handle?"

"Well, see, the handling is the fun part."

I threw my eyes to heaven with an amused smile as they sniggered away like a pair of schoolboys. Alice had remained, her arms folded. She said, "Well, that was nice of you, and a very adult move I must say."

"Why, thank you."

"It's a breath of fresh air really. I don't think getting frozen at sixteen has served you well. You run away quite a lot."

"That's nothing to do with my age; it's just what I do."

"Well, you're about to be made be an adult very soon, and it won't be something you can run away from."

"I know that, Alice. I've thought of nothing else."

"Well, just as long as you plan to step up. Leah wants this child, Jason. She'll expect you to take care of it regardless of what happens to her. You may hate it if she doesn't survive, but it'll be the least you owe her."

It was kind of jarring to have Alice speaking to me in such a serious manner. It just didn't fit somehow. She perceived my feelings and gave me one of her pixyish grins and said, "You underestimate me, young man. I can be stern and all parental if I want to be. Most of the time, I just choose not to. It doesn't suit my look."

"Ha, of course, well, you don't have to worry. I'm not going to fail Leah. I'm going to be there for her and our child. I just hope I can have both."

"We're all with you on that, believe me. Well, I'll leave you to it. Do come back when you're finished moping."

I threw her an exasperated look as she skipped off towards the house with a smile. I returned to the tree that I had bludgeoned and sat upon a thick root at its base. I didn't keep track of how long I just sat there.

_Why am I doing this?_

At some unspecified time, I just stood and headed back to the house. I didn't know what had impelled me to go back just then, but I felt like I really needed to be at the house. As I neared the front door, Rosalie came charging out. She laid eyes upon for a single moment and said, "_You!_"

"Huh?"

"_You_ did this."

"Geez, what's got your knickers in a twist?"

She made some high-pitched noise that dogs couldn't even hear and then said, "You put them together to get back at me, didn't you?"

"Ah, Rosalie, explanation please."

"Emmett and his personality doppelganger, that Dermot fellow, you introduced them."

"Yeah, so?"

After another shrill outburst, she replied, "Do you have any idea what I've been through for the past six hours? It's inescapable! Emmett comes out with some infuriating quip only to have it reinforced by another by _him_, or worse, they repeat what each other say, or jinx each other! I think I'm losing my mind. It's like you cloned him."

"Why, Rosalie, dear, one wouldst have thought that the prospect of two Emmetts would positively exhilarate you."

There was an eruption of uproarious laughter from inside the house, and it wasn't just Emmett and Dermot. Rosalie stared at me with some insane glint in her eye and asked, "Are you _mocking_ me?"

"Not at all, sweetie, but do you know what? There's a nice tree off in that direction that you can take out your pains upon. A few hours from now, I'm sure you'll be all perky and ready for another bout with the dynamic duo."

I actually dared to pat her on the shoulder as I walked past. How she managed not to rip my head off was beyond me. She was probably in too much shock of what I'd said and done to react. As I stepped inside, she screamed and echoes reverberated off the house and every tree turning into a deafening cacophony. Then she stomped off and the creaking and subsequent crashing of a falling tree reached us a few seconds later. Everyone was still there. Alice was giggling whilst Bella and Edward were failing horribly to maintain their composure. Emmett and Dermot were playing a rally game on the TV whilst pissing themselves laughing and not sticking to the computerised track even sort of. Emmett said, "Oh man, I'm going to pay so bad, like she'll hurt me."

Dermot replied, "I thought you liked S&M."

"I do, but she'll take the fun out of it. Hey, Jason, dynamic duo, I like it."

"I thought you might."

"You know you're going to suffer, too, and not in a semi-enjoyable way like I will."

"It was worth it."

"Ahuh, we'll see."

There was a scream.

My eyes locked on the upstairs rooms. In a tenth of a second, I had climbed up to them and was inside Carlisle's office. Leah was on a bed. She writhed in apparent pain. I went straight to her side and took her hand. She gripped it fiercely, her body heat so intense that it shot through my arm into my body. It was only when Carlisle started speaking that I even noticed who else was there. "Jason, she'll be okay, just a few moments now."

"What's going on?"

"The foetus, it's growing, _very_ fast."

"How fast?"

"Faster than Renesmee by several orders of magnitude. If this continues, she'll give birth inside a week."

"It's hurting her."

"The accelerated growth is putting a lot of strain on her body. It may lead to internal injuries."

Suddenly, Leah calmed down and drifted off. I rubbed her forehead and her cheek gently. "She's exhausted." I said.

Carlisle put a hand on my shoulder and said, "Can I talk to you outside a moment?"

"What's wrong, Carlisle?" I asked as we stepped outside the door.

Carlisle replied as Esme and Fiona tended to Leah, "We were about to attempt an ultrasound when she had her second bout of intense pain."

"_Second?_"

"The first one happened a few hours ago and was less severe, just mild abdominal pain."

"Why didn't someone come get me?"

"Like I said, it was mild and I needed more time to do my tests. So far I've learned a few interesting things."

"Such as?"

"For one, the foetus does not appear to be surrounded by the same membrane that prevented us doing an ultrasound during Bella's pregnancy, so we might get more information as it progresses. It's possible that her shapeshifter physiology prevented its formation…"

"Sorry, Carlisle, I don't mean to be rude, but what does all this mean for her?"

"I apologise, there is just so much about this situation…sorry, all I can say is that a lot of Bella's suffering was induced by the pace of the pregnancy, not to mention the strength of the foetus. We can only assume the same will occur this time around, just with greater intensity."

"So…she won't survive?"

Carlisle placed a hand on my shoulder and replied, "I can't say for definite, Jason. What I can tell you is that Leah was right in saying her body is stronger than that of a normal human. It's all a matter of if that strength is enough."

"…Thank you, Carlisle, for everything. You're so patient and tolerant. I've already caused you and this family such hassle and now…this."

"You are family, Jason, you have to start remembering that. Patience comes naturally and tolerance doesn't even come into it. We are all here for you."

"Thank you. Can I ask a favour, Carlisle?"

"Of course."

"Can I please stay with her? I just need her in my sight right now."

"I've run my tests so yes, you can stay. We will be periodically checking her vitals and we'll perform another ultrasound in a few hours, but you can stay in the room."

"Thank you so much."

Carlisle nodded and said, "I just have to run out for some supplies. Fiona will be here if anything happens. Just talk to her if you want but mostly, just be there."

I nodded my assent and zoomed right over to her, taking her hand gently as I pulled up a chair. Esme was about to leave with Carlisle but she laid a comforting hand on my back and smiled one of those "all-will-be-well" smiles before going. My eyes drifted over to Leah. She seemed so peaceful compared to just a few minutes before. She still felt roasting, the sweat had created an unbroken sheen across all her exposed skin, and her bedclothes stuck to her. Her odour was wafting up into my nose, that sweet nectar, but it didn't even move me one bit. I was so zoned out looking at her face that it made me jump when Fiona placed a damp cloth on her forehead. She gently pressed it against her skin and said, "I'm very happy for you, Jason. It was a very lucky find, this coven. I doubt there is anything like them in the world."

"I am lucky. I assume you and Carlisle had a lot to exchange?"

"And Esme as well, she is such a lovely woman, just so serene and poised. They are just such warm people, the both of them."

"I know what you mean."

"Are they all like that?"

"Hmm, some of them have their moments."

Alice called from downstairs, "You know we can hear you."

"Don't worry, Alice, the some includes you."

"You're such a lick."

I said to Fiona, "Sometimes you can't win with them, though." That got a collective snigger from downstairs.

Fiona smiled ruefully and said, "I feel so rude. I have to remember there are people in this house."

"I wouldn't worry about it, honestly."

My eyes drifted again to Leah. Her face was still burning red. She was so warm that the cool damp from the cloth had evaporated to be replaced with more trickling streams of sweat. Her hair was matting and her breathing was getting quicker and shallower along with an increasingly erratic heartbeat.

Her eyes opened. Her breath came sharply.

Her mouth opened wide and at first, she made no noise, but then she let out a gut wrenching cry of pain as her back arched. My grip on her hand tightened involuntary as she returned the pressure and then some. My other hand gripped her shoulder in desperation. Her screams of agony continued. Everyone else had stopped, for there were no other sounds but the clarity of Leah's cries. Tears welled in her eyes. She did not seem to be aware of me as I leaned over her trying to comfort her. Her pain must have been so intense that it induced delirium. Fiona could do little but comfort her with me and speak calming words that I was too shaken to say myself. For a moment, perhaps to take a breather from helplessly watching her suffer, my eyes drifted towards her abdomen. A human might not perceive it, but my vampire eyes could clearly detect it, so fast was this pregnancy proceeding. Leah's stomach was gradually rising, expanding, as the foetus grew inexorably within her.

_This is unnatural. _

I looked at my Leah's agonised and contorted features again.

_It's not right. It's not worth it._

The blackness coursed out of my mind down my arm before tentatively probing her skin. I could so easily have ended it right there. That thing inside her, killing her, was nothing but a clump of multiplying cells right then. It would be invasive, but I could have easily crushed them out of existence with the mind fire. Leah's suffering would end. Perhaps they would all believe that she had miscarried, that the half-shapeshifter, half-vampire foetus was just unviable, or that the intensity and pace of the pregnancy had been too much for it, too. Even if they did know, and Leah found out, yes, she'd never forgive me, but she'd be alive. The tendrils were forming, breaking into microfilaments that could squeeze through her pores, enter her womb, and end this abomination.

But could _I _do it?

No matter how I felt, no matter how much I wanted to help Leah, to spare her anymore pain, the foetus within her was mine. It didn't matter what it was, what it was doing, or what it would become, it was half-vampire, half _me_. Could I really do it, directly and physically end the life of my unborn child? Leah's cries pierced through my deliberation.

_I can't do it. I can't watch her hurt anymore._

Just as the thought formed to direct the blackness, the tendrils snapped back into my mind like steel cables ripping and lashing at the inside of my skull. My hands went to my head as the mind fire exploded within me. It was agony, like I was burning from the inside out, like detonations were blasting right in my ears. The blackness smacked, and scraped, and tore until I was deranged with the violent torture of it. I was fully convinced that my eyes would fall out and that my head would then crumble to dust. Not even the very convincing illusory pain created by Jane compared to this. I was vaguely aware of falling on my side. Then, through the imagined assault on my ears, I heard a voice, a voice that loudened, became clearer, until I made out two words.

_Save them…Save them! Save them! SAVE THEM!_

The phrase repeated and echoed louder and louder in my head until it diverged as if thousands of people were shouting at me from all sides. Then it occurred to me that they all sounded like Leah and were using the same tone as from my vision. I screamed okay, that I would do what they wanted, anything to end this.

Then it all went away.

There was silence. My eyes shot open and I inhaled though it wasn't necessary, merely a reflex. Dermot and Fiona knelt beside me whilst Alice and Emmett were nearby. I sensed the others were just outside the door. I felt hollow, empty somehow. They were all trying to talk to me, but something about the world seemed unreal or maybe it was something missing. It was as if I was perceiving less than normal, like I'd become partially blind or deaf. Then, it clicked.

_The blackness, where is it? Where has it gone?_

I sat up then shot towards the corner, pressing my hands to the wall, my back to everyone. I tried desperately to search out any facet of the wall that I could not already perceive with my other senses.

_Nothing._

I turned around. The wet cloth that Fiona had dabbed Leah with was resting upon a table beside her bed. I tried to reach out, tried to bring it to me using the blackness, but nothing happened. No tendrils formed. I couldn't visualise it anymore. There was no mind fire, no sense of its presence. It wasn't there. It was gone. Despite everything that was going on, that seemed to be the only thing that existed right then, hollowness, the loss. I felt I knew then what is was like to lose your sight, your hearing, to have a window on the world closed permanently. Suddenly, Edward was right in front of me just as panic was about to truly overtake me. He shook me by my shoulders, shouting at me, as I slowly came out of myself, away from the verge of the cliff. I let myself hear him, let my other senses compensate, try to fill the gaping hole. He said, "Jason, calm down. It's okay."

My voice came in a rasp. "No, you have no idea. No…" I was slipping away into the darkness again.

Then Edward said forcefully, "Jason! It's still there."

That got my attention. I said in a whisper, "What?"

"Your ability hasn't left you. I can still sense it."

"Then…then, why can't I, why can't I feel it anymore?"

"I don't know. The best I can describe it is that it has gone dormant, retreated somewhere in your mind where you can't find it. I can't say why."

Everyone looked at me with the type of concern you show someone who has suffered a permanent injury when you don't know what to say to them. My attention turned to Leah when it became too hard to meet their eyes. She was asleep again, but her heart rate was more erratic, her body warmth radiating throughout the room. The loss of my ability, whether temporary or permanent, dropped down in importance as I noticed how much her stomach had expanded during the latest growth spurt. What I had contemplated doing, what I had almost tried to do, was obviously not something the blackness would be a part of, whether I willed it or not. I'd seen it do things of its own volition, but this was the first time it had openly defied me. The pain it induced in me, repeating the message of the vision, somehow I felt punished. Maybe I deserved that. Would repentance bring it back, or would simply obeying the command to save them be enough? I supposed I'd have to wait to find out.

My ears picked out a noise from Leah's direction. _Thud-thud, thud-thud…_

For a second, I thought it was her heartbeat, but it was too low, too small. It was the foetus. I said, "Can you all hear that?"

Fiona answered, "Yes, yes, I can."

Edward added, "The lack of the membrane must make the foetal heartbeat clearer."

I moved to her side, taking her hand. This was all Leah wanted, to bring a child into the world, and I'd almost taken that from her. I'd been so selfish. As I smiled lovingly at her, caressing her face, Fiona said, "Wait everyone, listen more carefully. Can you hear that strange discrepancy?"

Edward answered, "Yes, it's like the beats are out of time."

"It's almost as if there's too many…"

Fiona seemed to have a moment. She then rushed forth, placed her hand on Leah's stomach, and closed her eyes. She opened them, looked at me with an astounded expression, and said, "More congratulations are in order, Jason, but Leah's woes just multiplied."

"What do you mean?"

"…It's twins, Jason."

Everyone turned to me in astonishment. I just kept smiling for a moment as I watched my Leah sleep. Then I said, "Hmm, save _them_."


	9. Chapter 9: Hopes

**HOPES**

One week, that's what Carlisle had said. One week until the pregnancy ended given the rate at which it was progressing. Well, that was last week, as in her due date, if you could even call it that. In that time, she had suffered. The growth spurts decreased in frequency but increased in duration. She was barely conscious, let alone communicative, between them but when they set in, she was wide-awake, alert to every ounce of agony. She cried, screamed, begged for it to end when she could manage to speak. I held her hand throughout, never leaving her side, not even to feed. I watched the terror in her eyes, felt the radiating heat from her body beat against my skin in waves like the surges of pain that were crippling her. At times, my resolve wavered, and I wondered was any of this worth it but when Leah's eyes met mine, something said to me that she was willing to go through this, willing to endure. I could only comply with her wishes. Alice was right. That was the least I owed her.

The week went as such. Carlisle noted the decreased occurrences of the growth spurts and did an ultrasound after each one. He examined the images in sequence with intense scrutiny the day before Leah was due. I couldn't particularly discern anything myself as I hovered around in the background whilst he conferred with Fiona. I supposed I should have listened in, but I was too caught up in what I was seeing. Those were mine. The two forms on the images were my children; I'd created them, or at least played a part. They weren't fully formed by then with only the head and body differentiated from each other, but it was still incredible to behold. I wished that Leah was able to see it, too, but she was too exhausted to even twitch. After several hours, Carlisle and Fiona seemed to come to some agreement. He came to me and said, "Jason, I've good news for you for once."

"What is it?"

"The pregnancy appears to be normalising."

"What does that mean?"

"The rate of foetal growth is steadily reducing to that experienced during a normal human pregnancy. It seems the first week was somewhat of an overdrive phase if you will. Things will get better from here on out."

"So no more growth spurts? She won't be in any more pain?"

"I'm afraid it's not that simple. We worked it out and if the slowdown continues as is, another week from now, she'll have completed the equivalent of the first two trimesters. At that point, we can't say what'll happen."

"Why not?"

"We know the stage she'll be at then, but we can't say if the pregnancy will progress at a normal rate from there on out or if there will be a resumption of the growth spurts. Calculations based on what's happening now can only tell us so much. We've already seen how unpredictable this pregnancy can be."

"So, another week?"

"I'm afraid so."

I looked past him to the ultrasound images pinned to the wall. The two of them faced each other, their foreheads meeting, their unformed feet almost touching, too.

_Maybe, I'll have to endure, too._

So it went on, day after day. The first three days there were multiple episodes and Leah occasionally needed oxygen, as she sometimes couldn't catch her breath. She didn't scream anymore or even move much. She just didn't have the strength left for that. I had to keep a watchful eye on her at all times because the only sign that a growth spurt was happening might be her opening her eyes, suddenly inhaling, or even just that she was crying silently. Between episodes, she was so still that I sometimes convinced myself that she wasn't breathing even though my senses told me otherwise. I could hear her heart, hear _their_ hearts, I could see her take those weak, shallow breaths, and I still drowned in her body heat. My senses were so much greater than when I was a human. I had never depended on the blackness then because I had such limited and momentary control over it. As a vampire, I hadn't realised how much I'd come to depend on it, how often I'd make a sweep of the world around me with the sensory element. My more basic senses were nothing but confirmation of what it told me. With it gone, it was frightening how little I trusted my own eyes and ears.

Now and again, I'd tried to rouse it from whatever hole in my mind it had dived down. I'd attempt to make sensory bubbles or manipulating tendrils just on the smallest of scales. I'd try to raise the mind fire by thinking of horrible events in my life, things that made me angry like Chloe's death at the hands of the Volturi, or things that spurred me to action like protecting the house from the flood. I concentrated and failed and then raged against the entity that inhabited me. It wasn't as if my thoughts just had no result. When I formed an image of what I wanted in my mind, I would no sooner have completed it before it dissipated in a puff of fogginess. Sometimes, it even felt disorientating. On the fourth day, Leah had gone through the whole morning and afternoon without an episode. She was so weak, and all I could do to monitor her was watch and listen. I was about to give rousing the blackness another go when Edward arrived in Carlisle's office. He said, "Don't bother. It's toying with you."

"Excuse me?"

"I've sensed you trying to use your ability, but I've also sensed _it_."

"What did you see?"

"It's waiting for your call, and each time you do, it's interfering with your thought processes, enough to muddle you so you can't control it."

"Wow, I think we need to give the possession angle some more thought 'cause that doesn't sound like primitive behaviour to me."

"I agree. Although, then again, it is an almost automated response each time no matter what you try to do. It's strange."

"No kidding."

"No, I mean I can feel your disorientation when your thoughts are dispelled by the entity. I don't know if it's a quirk of my own ability or if the blackness doesn't appreciate my snooping."

"Well, that is certainly intriguing and creepy at the same time."

"Indeed. Jason, I know why you're trying to access your ability. You have to trust yourself. You're here for her. She knows that, and you'll know when she needs you. I mean you've caught every single episode when some of the rest of us don't even notice. Just stop beating yourself up."

"Edward, you of all people know I can't stop doing that."

"You might as well forgive yourself sooner rather than later."

"What are you talking about?"

"I could sense your thoughts the first day the growth spurts started." I got his meaning within a moment and shame set in quite quickly. He pre-empted anything I could say, though. "There's no need to feel like that, Jason. I had awful thoughts, too, when Bella was pregnant."

"Like what?"

"Sedating her by force, going through with the operation to remove Renesmee from her body, to save her against her will."

"But you never acted upon those thoughts."

"I almost did and often, too often in fact, it was the words of Carlisle or the others that drew me back from that line I would have otherwise crossed. Granted, Jason, your method of termination was a great deal more elegant and less brutal than what I'd had in mind, but if I had anything akin to your ability, I can't say that I wouldn't have done it, just because it was easy. I was about to try to be the voice of reason when I sensed your intentions, but I don't think I'd have reached you in time. Luckily, your ability has a mind of its own, literally."

"Thank you, Edward, I…"

"J-J-Jason…"

The small sound issued from Leah's lips, almost drowned out by her own shallow breathing. Her eyelids were flicking open and closed every few seconds. I took her hand and she squeezed ever so gently. I said, "I'm here, Leah."

"So…so thirsty."

This was strange as she'd been receiving fluids and food through a tube because she didn't have the strength most of the time to swallow and when she did, she'd inevitably throw up. Carlisle and Fiona arrived from downstairs within moments followed closely by Esme who stood in the doorway. I knew the others were listening with bated breath. Carlisle came to the opposite side of Leah's bed to me and said, "Hello, Leah, it's good to hear your voice again. You've been mostly unconscious for quite a while."

"Thirsty…so thirsty."

Carlisle frowned ever so slightly and quickly checked her fluids bag and visually inspected the tubing. He addressed Fiona, saying, "Curious, she's definitely getting enough water."

"You said that Bella had difficulties ingesting anything when she was pregnant with Renesmee. Perhaps feeding through a tube makes no difference in her condition."

"She has rapidly weakened, though I assumed that was to do with the intensity of the growth spurts."

"I think there's a few things you've all forgotten since last time." Jacob appeared beside Esme in the doorway. I had been paying so much attention to Leah that I hadn't heard his approach. He continued, "Remember my _idea_, Edward."

He considered but a fraction of a second before replying, "Blood, the foetuses want blood."

"Just like Renesmee did."

Carlisle said, "Well, I can't say if the foetus is closer to us or the Quileutes, I thought with the chromosomal numbers that a child between you two wouldn't be possible. Still, it has happened and logically we must assume that their dietary requirements are at least semi-vampiric. Perhaps if we give them blood first, then Leah will strengthen enough to ingest normal food, too."

"I'll set up for a blood transfusion." Fiona said.

Jacob asked, "So you're not gonna get her to drink it, huh?"

Carlisle replied, "I don't believe we are as pressed for time this time around. Besides, I don't think Leah would be amenable to that route."

"Whatever you say."

I had been taking note of everything said but not involving myself at all in the conversation. I watched Leah mouth the word thirsty as the strength to speak slipped away again. Her eyelids were beginning to close again. I caressed her face, brushing the matted strands of hair away from her eyes. She seemed so fragile then, so easily extinguished with slightest push in the wrong direction when before, she had been so strong, both mentally and physically. She'd overcome such trials in the short time I'd known her and long before that. Yet this was becoming too much for her body to withstand, too much for her to tolerate. This pregnancy was more like an inhabitation by a parasite that was sucking her dry. The ultrasounds had no more effect on me than putting a face upon the things killing my Leah.

_And yet… _

I'd promised to protect them. I couldn't say whether a promise to a semi-sentient entity meant anything or even if that was how it interpreted it, but it was there, and I'd agreed. I'd also promised Leah and the others in a way. Leah wanted this so desperately and it wasn't likely that these children would turn out much different from Renesmee. If I didn't have the benefit of vampire senses, I would have thought she was a normal, teenage human girl with no supernatural abilities. I supposed if they turned out like her, it wouldn't be so bad. I wondered would I be able to forgive them, to love them like Leah would want me to. I could feel Edward's eyes on me at that point. Sometimes him being a mind reader was highly inconvenient. There are times when one would just like to be alone with their own thoughts. I caught him try to hold in a grin.

_Oh, I'm sorry, did I think that out loud, too?_

He was still doing that annoying half-grin as if he was on the verge of laughter.

_Bloody irritant._

I had to give it to him. He had a degree of self-control I could only aspire to. I'd be sniggering like a fool despite how inappropriate it would be given the circumstances. A moment later, Fiona appeared out of nowhere with a blood bag and began hooking it up to Leah's IV. The smell of it was familiar as it worked its way down the tubes, human blood of the refrigerated kind. Managing to keep in control was well within my ability. Carlisle then said, "With Bella, we saw an almost instantaneous improvement."

The blood was definitely entering her system by then, but I saw no obvious signs that it was affecting her for the better or otherwise. Carlisle then said, "Maybe if we increase the flow, Bella did drink it from a cup after all."

Fiona dialled it up. Again, there was nothing. Then, after an agonising minute, there was a small but noticeable increase in her heart rate. It was a slow but steady rise. I even could see colour returning to her cheeks. Then, I noticed something else. The twins, whose hearts had also been beating a little slower since the growth spurts had stopped that day, were picking up, too. However, their improvement far surpassed Leah's until both their hearts were beating like kettledrums. The blood bag began to visibly drain. Carlisle raised an eyebrow and said, "Well, their appetite is clearly quite voracious."

Jacob said, "No kidding."

"We'll have to have a steady supply if this rate of consumption continues. I imagine we might have to change bags several times an hour."

Fiona replied, "I'll get more."

Carlisle addressed me this time. "Jason, Leah will improve. She may even regain consciousness and some mobility. However, with two foetuses both requiring sustenance, her path to recovery might be somewhat more drawn out. I plan to keep her under for a while until she gains more strength. I also want to conduct an amniocentesis."

"Translation, please." 

"I'm going to draw some amniotic fluid from her womb using a needle. It won't hurt her, and she won't even be aware of the procedure but since they aren't surrounded by a protective membrane like Renesmee was, I'll be able to get a better idea of their genetic makeup with a sample."

"Will that help you in managing the pregnancy?"

"Possibly, but I will admit to being curious to learn what the chromosomal profile of the twins is. Vampires have twenty-five chromosome pairs and humans have twenty-three. Renesmee has twenty-four, an average of the two, but the Quileutes also have twenty-four pairs. I don't need to tell you that the average of twenty-four and twenty-five if twenty-four and a half. You can't have half a chromosome pair. Therefore, since this pregnancy has occurred, the twins must be more like you or like Leah"

"Given the way they're chugging down the blood, I think it's a safe bet they're more like me."

"I think you're confusing 'more like' with 'nothing like'."

"If you say so, do you need me to stay back a bit while you're doing this?"

"If you wouldn't mind."

"Of course, I'll try to stay out of your hair."

Edward then stepped forward. He said, "Jason, would you be up for a walk?"

"Is that a joke?"

"It'll only be for a few minutes. You'll be back before Carlisle is even finished, right?" He looked to Carlisle for an answer.

He replied, "Of course, this will take the better part of an hour."

Edward turned to me again. "There you go. Come on, just a few minutes."

I considered saying no adamantly, but he seemed to think this was important. My eyes rested on Leah for a moment and then I said to Carlisle, "You'll call me if there's any change?"

"If she so much as lifts a finger."

"Thank you."

Edward then said, "You coming Jacob?"

"Huh, ah, yeah, if you want."

"I assume you'll be wanting to relieve my daughter of her grounding."

"Seriously?"

"Temporarily, of course, and you stay in sight."

"Edward, she's still only six years old. You know my thoughts better than anyone. I still only want to keep her safe and happy."

"Oh, I know, it's just you don't know my daughter's thoughts."

"Huh?"

"Let's just leave it at that, shall we?"

"O-kay…"

"Jason, after you."

When I got downstairs, I noticed everyone was gone including Esme. I could only hear Carlisle and Fiona moving around upstairs. "They're all gone hunting," Edward said, "Emmett wants to track down a grizzly for Dermot."

"Figures."

"Indeed, the rest of them have gone to observe the spectacle."

"They won't be disappointed. So we're going to your place?"

"Yes, let's run. It's not far. Jacob, will you be changing form?"

"Nah, not far enough to bother. I'll catch up."

"Suit yourself. Let's go."

Edward zoomed out the door and I dashed after him, leaving Jacob in our collective dust. The cottage wasn't far, and the run seemed to be over nearly as soon as it began. The cottage nestled neatly into the surrounding forest, so much so in fact that a casual observer might miss it. It was made of stone as was the path that led to its quaint wooden door. Honeysuckle climbed up a lattice right up to the wooden shingles and roses blossomed in a small garden at the foot of the dark, deep-set windows. Shafts of sunlight came down through the canopy, illuminating the already picturesque scene. It reminded me of what the farmhouse back in my old playground might have looked if it hadn't been let get so dilapidated.

"Nice place." I commented, though that hardly did it justice.

Edward replied, "Thank you, though I can't take all the credit. We all built it as a gift for Bella's nineteenth birthday. It was just rotting out here until Esme decided to renovate it. She's always looking for reasons to do that."

I heard Jacob gaining on us. He was obviously pushing it pretty hard as I could smell his odour from where I stood. Just as I was about to speak, the wooden door opened gently and Bella stepped out, making her way over with her graceful stride. She embraced Edward without a word and then pulled away, saying, "I missed you."

"I missed you, too."

She turned to me and said, "Hi, Jason, how's Leah doing?"

"Better, it seems the twins are partial to the red stuff."

"So the same as my pregnancy, is she up and about now?"

"Carlisle seems to think that could happen soon."

"I might go visit now if that's okay. If she wakes, I'm sure she'll have questions."

"That's really nice of you, though she definitely won't be conscious in the next hour or so."

"That's okay. I want to head over to the house anyhow. Edward, would you mind watching Renesmee?"

"Sure, though her other babysitter is almost here."

Jacob emerged from behind some trees, panting and dripping in sweat. Bella laughed and said, "Hey, you. Did you run all the way?"

"…Yeah, no big deal, though."

"Really? Do you know how much worse you smell when you sweat?"

"Gee, thanks for the concern."

"Don't mention it. Right, I'm off. Jacob, no outings with Renesmee. Keep it indoors."

"All right, okay, geez, what is with you two today?"

Bella shook her head as she darted off in the direction of the house. Renesmee peeked out from behind the partly opened door. She was dressed in a very light summer dress and seemed to have done her hair with a few small ponytails running through her long locks. Edward pressed his lips together into a tight line as she showed herself. She said, "Oh, sorry, daddy, does my grounding preclude me from stepping outside the door unaccompanied?"

"Well, at least you've been studying your vocabulary."

"All the better to joust with, daddy, dear. Jacob, I wasn't expecting you to be coming. I'm really happy you're here."

"It's good to see you, too, Nessie. You look…really nice."

"Oh, this old thing, I just threw it on."

"And you're hair?"

"What about it?"

"Nessie, are you wearing makeup?"

"Oh yeah, Alice bought me a tonne of stuff from _Mac_. You want to see my makeup table? I'm planning a collection."

"Oh, am, sure."

"Great, give me two seconds. I just need to do something."

As she disappeared back into the cottage, Jacob looked nervously at a very piqued Edward. He asked, "Am, is there something I need to know about?"

"Not right now, Jacob, I don't think I can stomach it. Just watch yourself while you're with her, please."

"Watch myself? Seriously?"

"Just be on your guard. She might…_surprise_ you."

"Huh, yeah, whatever you say."

I interjected, "Hold on, does anyone hear that?"

"What?" Jacob asked.

"That intermittent hissing sound."

Jacob added, "What is that smell? Is that the flowers?"

Edward grimaced and said, "No, Renesmee is…spraying perfume."

"Why? She never smells bad."

Edward said sharply, "I'm glad you've noticed, but she seems to want to smell better today."

"…Okay then. Ah, wish me luck."

"Certainly not!"

"Huh?"

"Just go, Jacob."

As Jacob entered the house, both bewildered and slightly fearful, I came up beside Edward and said, "Is what's happening what I think is happening?"

"I can say with utmost certainty that what you're _thinking_ is happening. There are days when I think not being a mind reader would be easier on my psyche."

"Oh, dear, how unpleasant."

"I can think of stronger adjectives."

"Are you sure you should have sent him in there?"

"Jacob will protect his own skin. I'm assuming he wants to keep it, for I will relieve him of it if he even considers reciprocating Renesmee's childish affections."

"You're actually kind of scary sometimes and to think when I first met you, I thought you were a tad stuffy."

"Stuffy? Really?"

"Okay, so I was thinking less refined words at the time, but I am trying to be polite here."

"That's quite all right. My thoughts were fairly crude and vulgar, too, though you weren't aware of mine."

"…Woops, sorry…sort of."

Edward laughed and said, "It's all in the past, mostly, I still harbour some resentment for my Volvo."

"Yeah, that, well, swiftly moving on to the present before you go all _Terminator_ on me, why were you so insistent that I come out here?"

He considered but a moment and then, looking into the open door of his family's little abode, said, "What do you see here, Jason?"

"…A nice, little cottage in the woods, why?"

"No, I'm not talking about the physical. What do you feel when you look at this place? What does it make you think of?"

At first, it was hard to get past the surface, past the shallow emotions of appreciating the niceness of the scene, the pleasant, idealistic aura that surrounded it. That's not what Edward was getting at, though. He wanted me to think, to look past the surface and see the deeper impressions this place was making upon me. What did it make me think of when first I laid eyes on it? The broken down farmhouse in my old playground, what it must have been like once. It was a place of labour, yes, but it was also a home to a family. There would have been a hardworking father tending to animals and the surrounding fields. There would have been a mother tirelessly caring for her children, cooking, cleaning, maybe tending a garden, and the children would have played as I once did in that very same place, carelessly imagining fantastic things, the real world yet to intrude upon their wonder and innocence. Yes, it was a home, there was family, love, memories. Perhaps they had disappeared with the dereliction of that old house, but that wasn't to say that they could not live on in different ways with different people. I thought back to my old home in Kilkee. Perhaps there had been a lack of love there, of familial bonds. Perhaps the memories were mostly bad in regards my parents and my elder brother, but I'd had the home and I'd had my sister. Those were memories I cherished.

Then, something occurred to me.

My imaginings of the old farmhouse as it once was and my memories of Kilkee were in some senses very much like the cottage that stood before me. Edward and Bella had a love for each other that was epic, unfathomably deep, a rare thing indeed. They had Renesmee, a daughter who they both loved and treasured, who was a miracle bestowed upon them. All of this love, all of this life was wrapped up within the physical, the cottage, and the people, the family. It was all too incredible to think of in human terms and from the perspective of most vampires, it was undesirable or unattainable.

_I fall into the second category, I guess._

Edward said, "So you saw most of what I wanted you to see."

"What?"

"This kind of life isn't out of your reach, Jason."

"Edward, what you have is damn near perfect. You're very lucky. Luck hasn't favoured me very often."

"But think, Jason, of what all of this emerged from. Bella became pregnant and all I could think of was how could I save her from herself, how could I stop the thing inside her taking her away from me. I just wanted Bella. This scenario never even entered my mind. I was willing to do anything, almost ready to force her. I believed steadfastly that I could never love Renesmee if Bella died, but then I heard her thoughts before she was even born. I realised she wasn't evil and hurting Bella wasn't what she wanted. It was something beyond her control. It was a beautiful experience only bested by when I first saw her. There isn't anything more extraordinary than holding your own child for the first time, a person that you created, who will love you unconditionally and depend on you, who will be with you always. Right now, I am happy beyond all measure, much more than I ever thought possible. You don't know how relieved I am on a daily basis that I didn't make the wrong choices back then. You might have made a bad choice, Jason, but luckily, you have a secondary conscience. The blackness was trying to convey something to you, that your intentions were wrong, that you should not view those children as a source of pain and loss but of hope. All of this, you could have, too, Jason, and it's a rare gift, especially for a vampire."

"…I see what you're getting at, Edward, but I just don't see this ending well, for Leah at least. I've had too much happen in my life and especially in the last year to think otherwise."

"Well, even if the worst does come to pass, and I don't believe for a second it will, you still have all of us, you still have Fiona and Dermot, and you may well have two children who will love you forever, and Leah would want you to be there for them. I know what Alice said in her little pep talk. She is right, Jason."

"She tends to be a lot, doesn't she?"

"You get used to it."

"But, Edward, how can you be so sure? What makes you so certain that Leah's just going to pull through?"

"You only see the outside, Jason, and even with the blackness, you only see the physical. I've heard her thoughts more than once. She may have fallen down in recent years, but she is a fighter. I can't really convey to you in words how intensely she wants this, how much she wants these children, to be a mother, how much she wants to be with you. She will not give in if she has anything to do with it, that I can guarantee you."

I tried not to let the happiness at hearing that overwhelm me. Maybe there was hope after all. Maybe she could make it. I just had to be there. I just had to have faith in her. I said, "Thank you, Edward."

"You already knew most of this. You just needed to hear it."

"I really did. I should get back now."

"I thought you might want to. I should get back as well and resume my role as chaperone."

"That bad, huh?"

"Yes, Renesmee has some very teenage issues despite her actual age. It's getting somewhat much…"

Suddenly, Edward's head jerked towards the cottage, which we had wandered away from. My ears readjusted as I focussed my attention there. I heard something large stumbling about, knocking things, most likely Jacob. I heard Renesmee's light steps chasing after him. I was totally confused, but Edward wasn't. His face was the expression equivalent of a nuclear meltdown. I found myself moving back ever so slightly just as he raced into the house. A few moments later, Jacob emerged from the house, not walking, but in flight, crashing into the undergrowth a bewildered heap not far from where I stood. Edward's irate voice then echoed out for all the forest to hear. "_Renesmee!_ You are grounded, again!"

Renesmee didn't protest much, probably out of mortification. I observed the lipstick smear that ran from the corner of Jacob's lips across his cheek. Clearly, he'd just been quick enough to avoid having one planted right on the lips. If he hadn't, Edward might have gone ahead with the flaying. I tried to hold back my smiles but not very successfully. Jacob struggled to his feet whilst brushing the leaf litter from his clothes. I said, "So the six-year-old girl got the drop on you?"

"Shut up, she's a lot quicker than your average girl."

"And you're sure there was no hesitation on your part?"

"I will rip your head off if you ever suggest that again."

"Okay, okay, at least you won't be caught off guard next time. Though, it's not like Edward was being subtle or anything."

"Huh?"

"Forget it."

Edward's voice resounded in my ears once more. "Renesmee, why do you have copies of _Cosmopolitan Magazine_? Did Alice give these to you?"

I said quietly, "Ah, I think we need to go give Alice a heads-up so she can start running."

Jacob replied, "I think I'll be joining her."

When we arrived, Alice was there a long with Emmett and Dermot who had returned to the couch to play Formula One. Alice stomped right over to Jacob and said to me without looking, "Jason, can you excuse us a moment?"

"Not at all. Have fun."

Jacob grimaced and then I heard the smack Alice gave him as I ascended the stairs. Just as I was halfway up, I heard Bella talking. There was another voice, much more familiar. I shot into Carlisle's office in a flash to see Leah sitting upright on the edge of her bed with a hand on her swollen belly as Bella sat in a chair right in front of her. Her face lit up on seeing me and she was about to attempt to stand but I zoomed over and just took her into my arms, holding her as tightly as I thought was safe given the state she'd been in. I must have held her for a minute before speaking. Even then, I let go reluctantly. It was like it had been forever since I'd last spoken with her, even though it had only been a matter of days. "Leah, are you okay?" I asked.

"Jason, I'm fine. I promise. I'm better than fine."

"Are you sure? Why didn't anyone tell me you were awake?"

Bella replied, "She's only been up ten minutes, Jason, and everyone's out. Me and Leah got to talking so I kinda forgot, sorry."

"Where's Carlisle and Fiona?"

"Off to the hospital, they didn't have the equipment in the house to fully analyse the amniotic sample."

I considered that a moment, but Leah's smiling face drew me up short. She seemed more alive than she had been in ages. There was actual colour in her cheeks. Her eyes were bright and wide. Most of all, her heart was not faltering but beating steady. I returned her smile in kind and pressed my forehead against hers, our noses meeting as our eyes closed, cherishing that moment. Bella stood and said, "I best be going. From Alice and Jacob's discussion, I'm thinking I'm going to have to go put out another fire. Leah, we'll talk again soon."

"Thank you, Bella, you've really helped."

"It wasn't any trouble. See you both soon."

I watched her zoom off. Obviously, she'd judged the situation with Renesmee had reached crisis levels. My eyes drifted back to Leah as soon as she was out of sight. She seemed so contented, her hand holding her belly. The bump had become quite pronounced in such a short space of time. Yet she was not in pain, not as far as I could tell anyhow. Her agony might have just reduced to manageable levels. As I focussed on where her hand was, I could hear them, too, their heartbeats thumping away already a little stronger compared to before I left. I then saw that Leah was already on a fresh bag of blood with the last one drained and resting on a nearby table. "How're you coping with _that_?" I said, indicating the IV bag.

She glanced at it a second before averting her eyes. She replied, "Not overly pleased, but needs must."

"At least you're not in the same state that you were, I guess."

"Bella told me, though most of what she said was second-hand. Were you okay? It must have been hard."

"Leah, don't be worrying about me. My wellbeing is not what's important right now."

"But I _do_ worry. Beneath that iron skin of yours, you're not all tough. It's one of those things I've come to know about you. Don't bottle it up, please. What are you concerns? I want to hear them."

For one second, I wanted to sugarcoat everything and pretend I was just worried for her wellbeing, which was basically total bull. That's when it all came spilling out. "…I worry that I'm going to lose you before this is over. I worry that, if you go, that I'll be a bad father because I won't be able to control my resentment and to me, if I can't do it, I'll be betraying you."

Leah looked at me thoughtfully. She finally said, "You definitely outgrew your years, Jason. A lot of guys your age don't even have thoughts that complex."

I knew she was trying to lighten the mood, and as much for herself as for me. I replied, "Don't give me all the credit. I've had a lot of lecturing from a lot of different people these past few days."

"And what have they been telling you?"

"…That doing good by them will be the least I can do."

For a second, she nodded in agreement and seemed about to say something but then, she eyed me with bewilderment. She said, "Sorry, what do you mean 'them'?"

"Wait, no one's told you? Not even Bella?"

"Told me what?"

"Leah…it's twins."

The confused look persisted but a moment and then a smile crept in at the corner of her lips. Her eyes, if anything, were brighter than before, as if they could sparkle. She said in a pent-up tone, "Are you for real?"

"It's true, Leah. You're eating for three."

She made a sound of utter joy and threw her arms around me, pulling me into a tight hug. Her body warmth was permeating me completely, but I could still feel the tears drop onto my neck and shoulder. Through the tears, though, she was laughing with happiness. Seeing how much delight this news brought her, I had to thank Bella for allowing me to the bearer of this news. Her laughter was infectious. I couldn't help but begin to feel it, too, the awe of the circumstance, the thrill of finally getting what you've always wanted, things I knew Leah was feeling in that moment. All my concerns were lost in the elation she was feeling. How could I possibly hate something that was bringing her this much happiness? When we finally let go of each other, I said, "I love you, Leah. I've been so scared for you. I just don't want to lose you."

"You won't."

"You can't guarantee that."

"Actually, I can. These children, part of them is me and so, no matter what happens, I'll always be with you. I don't think for a second that if I'm gone that you'll be a bad father. I don't think you have that kind of malice in you. From everything you've told me about your relationship with your sister, I know they'll be happy and safe even if I'm not there for them. I trust you, Jason, and I believe in you. Knowing you'll be raising our kids gives me a lot of comfort."

"I hope I can live up to your belief in me."

"I know you can, and what's more, I think I'll be there to see it happen. I haven't lost all hope yet."

"I'm sorry. I'm not exactly being cheery, am I?"

"Not much, no, but I understand. If our positions were reversed, I'd be up in a heap with all the doom and gloom to boot. Let's just not go there until we absolutely have to. From what Bella told me, if there's one thing she and Edward regret, it's that they fell apart a bit during her pregnancy, mostly out of fear of the unknown and fear of losing what they had. I don't want that for us. I know we haven't been together for a huge amount of time, but I feel like I've known you all my life because you're what I've always needed. Well, I need you now."

"…I'll never leave your side, not ever, my Leah."

She smiled then and looked away with a blush. "I'd forgotten about that," she gushed, "I really do like hearing it, though."

"I love you forever."

"Forever it shall be."

We drew each other into another embrace as three hearts thumped away, our little family. A few months before, I had nothing. In that time, I'd gained everything I could possibly hope for.

"You're joking, right?"

"Afraid not, Jason, you've already lost out on too much time, and the excuses I've made on your behalf are wearing thin with the faculty."

I just wasn't hearing this. This was absolute insanity. Carlisle wanted me to leave Leah's side for extended periods of time five days a week despite her current condition.

_He wants me to go back to school!_

Granted, it had been a month since the amniocentesis results came in, and the news was positive. Due to our chromosomal numbers, the twins had not inherited an even amount of genetic material from both of us. They had twenty-four chromosome pairs like Leah with twelve from both of us. Carlisle was still busy at work determining which chromosome pair I hadn't passed on and what effects this might have on their development. When Carlisle mentioned this, Leah went into a panic, thinking that the children might be born with some genetic diseases or be unable to survive outside the womb. I hadn't anticipated that response and neither had Carlisle, which was why I didn't get too irritated by it. He, however, assured us that the twins were developing perfectly with no obvious abnormalities and that they would definitely survive the birth. He also assured Leah that the children were similar enough to Renesmee that he could say they would have no vulnerabilities to disease or serious injury. This reassured her somewhat, but she demanded to know the results of his genetic analysis as soon as they were in, so that she'd know exactly what the missing chromosome pair would mean for her children's wellbeing.

Carlisle had also been able to confirm another positive fact. The pregnancy had indeed slowed, for an as yet unknown reason, to what a woman would normally expect in the third trimester. Therefore, having been pregnant for barely six weeks, she was already the equivalent of seven months pregnant, but the birth was still two months away at this rate, just in time for Christmas. Her due date was Christmas Eve, all going well, though Carlisle warned that twins often arrive early or need to be delivered via caesarean section, though he added that was for _normal_ human pregnancies.

Leah was really excited at the prospect of having Christmas babies and she even crossed her fingers that they'd come a day late. For my part, I'd been drawn in by her sheer enjoyment of the experience, even the bad parts like the backache and the cravings, she savoured every minute of it. She didn't like having to carry an IV bag around with her or having a needle in her arm, but she was mostly mobile despite sometimes needing a hand up from a seat. She also was able to take normal food along with the blood, which was a relief. She'd developed awful cravings for fish, especially of the freshly caught, unprocessed kind. This was despite her protests of how she had never liked fish, and the smell made her want to vomit. She blamed the twins for this, but the flavour and odour had become irresistible to her, though she still didn't like the look of it and had practiced eating with her eyes closed. Charlie insisted on bringing trout that he'd caught himself for his soon-to-be stepdaughter. He and Sue had become engaged in the previous month not long after Leah had announced her pregnancy to the whole tribe through Jacob. Leah told him it was about bloody time as they'd only been dating for six years. On one of her not so cheery days, Charlie made the mistake of bringing his fresh catch right up to her as she sat nursing an unsettled stomach. She eyed him with abject horror and said, "The kitchen, now!"

He didn't do it again.

I thought it was very odd how accepting Charlie was of the whole situation. Bella then informed me of the family's need-to-know only agreement when it came to its non-supernatural or non-initiated members and that Charlie had learned not to ask questions because if something was important, he'd be told. I supposed he'd already dealt with a lot of weirdness in regards Bella's change and Renesmee's birth and growth. That concerned Leah, too, the whole growth thing. Would they mature in six to seven years like Renesmee had? Carlisle said his analysis of the samples would tell him that, but getting good results would take some time. That didn't sit well with Leah but with nothing she could do about it, she just had to be patient, which wasn't exactly easy given the severe mood swings she'd become prone to. Sometimes, she even found herself raging about the most insignificant thing like the positioning of certain portions of food on her plate. There were other times when she would break into tears for no apparent reason, and the fact that she couldn't explain upset her even more. When she settled, she was always full of apologies for being such a basketcase, as she'd say, but I quickly dissuaded her of those thoughts, reminding her that it was none of her fault.

So, despite her improvement in general terms, she still needed me.

It would kill me to be in class and think of her without someone to comfort her if she got sad or thinking of her moving around unnecessarily when she needed something. Edward, as always, was quick to point out how wrong my thoughts were. "Jason, you think too much. It's rather frustrating to be listening to." He said as Carlisle was trying to politely persuade me into going back.

I replied, "Oh my, how thoughtless of me, to think that my own _private_ ponderings should be such a bother to you. Might I suggest tuning me out now and again."

He threw his eyes to heaven and said, "You're a bit too loud for that. Anyhow, Jason, you know Leah will receive nothing but the best care with us. Either Carlisle or Fiona will be on hand, if Leah has any medical problems and as for her more basic care, you know Esme is all over it. She would not hear of her being in any discomfort for even a second, let alone going hungry or being left alone to fend for herself otherwise."

"But…"

"And if she gets upset or needs someone to talk to, you won't meet a more patient and caring person than Esme. Plus, all the rest of us aren't totally hopeless when it comes to that either."

Carlisle added, "Edward is right, Jason. Trust us, Leah will be taken care of in every respect while you're at school. I know the prospect of going back in the middle of term when you're so behind isn't appealing, but you're a vampire, you'll catch up a lot easier than a human student, and you'll get to see your friends again."

_Friends indeed! More like "friend" singular._

Isaac was the only person from school who'd been in contact with me since my trip home to Ireland. He called at least once a week and text me often enough. I was usually too preoccupied to answer every message, but he understood. Nevertheless, I made an effort because he had. He kept me up to date with the limited goings-on in school and assured me that everyone was asking after me. It didn't really matter to me that the others didn't give two shits, one friend at a time was as much as I could claim to ever have had with anyone else just hangers on. I supposed my new extended family were all my friends but as Carlisle once said, there's a big difference between the two. I could never be myself or discuss any of my current problems with Isaac, something I found regrettable but knew was necessary for his wellbeing as much as mine. I sighed and said, "Fine, I'll go. I wish it were any other week, though."

"Why is that?"

"Ah, Halloween tomorrow, everybody's going to be bloody celebrating with their costumes and their junk food and plenty of ridiculous clichés like "I want-to suck-your blood", god, I can just picture Joshua saying that."

"I can understand you not being in the mood for such festivities."

"No kidding, and there's also the irony to consider, me being the vampire and all. It's just going to grate on my nerves every time I see someone in a Dracula outfit."

Edward chuckled and said, "Don't worry. You'll get over that after a few Halloweens. Whenever you see a human in an absurd vampire costume, you'll just smile eventually and think how very wrong they've gotten it."

"Any way to fast forward to that contented disdain?"

"Afraid not. Just try not to communicate or demonstrate your distaste in the meantime. They may not survive it."

And so it was, I was going back to school at what I considered a most inopportune time in regards Leah, and a most unfortunate time given the time of year. Alice dropped me off in her much-adored yellow sports car. It was midweek so I was arriving back into school in the midst of the Halloween insanity. I could see the tacky decorations and smell the burning candle wax from the car. Alice seemed to want to get in on the action, too…through me, of course. "So, here is your mask, and I managed to find this amongst our things from the nineties, it's a glow-in-the-dark jacket. I think I made Edward wear it one day."

I stared at her beaming, excited face as though she had two heads. I replied, "Alice, I'm a freshman in high school, not in kindergarten."

"Hmm, clearly, you've never had Halloween at this school."

Just at that moment, a bunch of seniors walked in front of the car wearing masks, cloaks, multiple light-up accessories, and one even had some kind of up to the elbow glove that made his arm look rotten and decayed. He took a moment to turn to us and make some noise, which I assumed he intended to be frightening, before rejoining his cackling friends. I wondered was the utter disbelief and derision I was feeling plain upon my face just as Alice said, "Close your mouth, Jason, before you drool."

"Vampires don't drool."

"Ah, we both know Emmett, right?"

"Hmm, fine." I sighed, "Okay, let's do this, give me the mask. The jacket ain't happening, though."

"Why not?"

"Alice, it looks like something out of a Michael Jackson video."

"Just take it, you might change your mind, or you're little friends will change it for you."

I took the mask, which at least portrayed something other than what I was, but I couldn't quite ascertain _what_ that was. It looked like a cross between a snarling werewolf and a putrefying zombie. As I got out of the car, Alice said, "You better wear them, Jason. I want photographic evidence."

"That's grand, first stop, computer room and _Photoshop_."

"Jason, I'll be able to tell if you've done it or not."

"Okay, okay, chill. See you later."

"They better not be grumpy pictures either!" She shouted after me as I walked towards school.

I moved a little faster to escape the sniggers of nearby students only to almost charge into Joshua and Isaac. Low and behold, he was dressed as Dracula with a black cloak with a high collar over a black shirt and pants. He had fake teeth in and had even rubbed something into his face to make himself look pasty, though to me, he looked like he'd fallen into his cereal that morning. Isaac was a bit more subdued, carrying his mask like I was and dressed in regular clothes. Jenny was standing nearby with a group of girls from our year, looking unusually chic in a stylised witch's outfit and dramatic makeup. Joshua regarded me weirdly for a second and said, "Well, I guess not all of us need to make as much effort to look freaky for Halloween."

I grinned at his weak attempt to insult me. I replied, "As opposed to those of us who seriously overdo it."

Jenny and the girls she was with sniggered and moved off towards class. Joshua was singularly unimpressed. He just sniffed rather loudly and left himself. Isaac stood into his place and said, "Is it too late to say welcome back?"

"Hmm, thanks, how've you been?"

"As well as I can be expected, having to endure my brother's mood swings solo."

"Why? Where's Madelyn and what's with Jenny's new look?"

"Madelyn's been out the last two weeks. Apparently, she's sick, but rumours are going around that her parents pulled her out of school to take her to some kind of clinic. Don't ask where that's coming from, I just heard. As for Jenny, well, with Madelyn out of the picture, she's slipped into her throne as hottest in school. She's currently in the process of ousting the other popular girls."

"Wow, she always seemed so demure and quiet."

"Yeah, well, those are the ones you have to watch out for."

"Ha, true, so you seem kind of worn."

"Thanks, man, it helps to know I look crap, too."

"Sorry…"

"Just kidding, just Joshua's foul little bitchy mood is starting to rub off on me."

"I think you lack the bitchy element, though."

"Why, thank you, you're too kind."

"No problem, well, what class have you now?"

"Government, you?"

"English with Mr. Mason. I hate Monday and Wednesday mornings."

"Well, you haven't experienced that many of them to be fair."

"I don't need to. Each moment in that man's class is an exquisitely painful descent through another level of hell."

Then, a voice from behind said, "Well, Jason Culhane, how good of you to grace us with your presence." An actual chill travelled down my spine on hearing that voice as I turned to see Mr. Mason standing in front of me. I didn't say anything, but he didn't leave me much opportunity. He said, "Well, I hope you've sufficiently caught up to be able to complete today's in-class assignment. Hopefully, you can be as eloquent in creative writing as you were describing how much you enjoy my class."

With that, he walked off. Isaac and I stared after him, as the corridor seemed to be drawing me inevitably after him like a black hole. Isaac just said, "It's almost nine, gotta be going. Am, good luck."

No amount of luck could have helped me. Mr. Mason was in fine form when it came to scathing remarks and insinuations. Luckily, the assignment required the majority of class time. The creative writing was rather novel to me, no pun intended. Generally speaking, the exam papers at second-level in Ireland only feature one creative writing question or even just a part of one question, so it wasn't focussed on much in class. The question for creative writing here was still only one, but it was more specific in what it wanted in the answer. Back home, it was usually a random line that had to be the starting line and then we could do whatever we wanted from there. Mr. Mason specified a genre, a place, and a time even, forcing me to consider how I'd do a thriller/mystery based in Seattle in the fifties. When I really considered it, I thought this had to be some concoction he'd thrown together to punish us all for existing, or perhaps it was my welcome back present.

After that torment was over, I had double government, a break, then trig and Spanish. Lunch threw me, as when I arrived in the cafeteria, I found the usual table had been claimed by Jenny and her new clique. I quickly tracked down Isaac as much by smell as sight to the other end of the seating area. He was sitting alone and was oblivious to my approach until I actually sat down. He jumped, losing a few chips to the floor. He said, "You're too bloody silent. I'm getting you a bell."

"Geez, testy, aren't we?"

"No, I just got used of no company at lunch."

"What? Joshua doesn't sit with you?"

"No, he sits at the table next to Jenny's group."

"Seriously?"

"Ahuh, he'll arrive in a few minutes and sit beside them, trying to look cool in his outfit. Believe me, he has it all planned."

"How do you know?"

"Because he was thinking out loud."

"Ha, so you think this Halloween stuff is as lame as I do?"

"Lame would be a compliment compared to what I think."

"Well, I'll have to wear the stupid mask for a few minutes if you'll take pictures with my phone. It's to keep my cousin happy."

"Oh, the one with the sports car, yeah?"

"That's the one."

"She seems fun."

"I'd get to know her first before making that assessment."

"That bad?"

"You have no idea. It's like trying to keep up with someone who's constantly high on speed."

"Well, at least your relatives are too much of a good thing and not the other way around."

"You two have really fallen out, haven't you?"

"He's just so caught up in himself lately and impressing the girls, and he's so sour towards me like I'm such a bother. We don't even talk these days. Our parents are starting to notice, even though we were never those inseparable kinds of twins."

"I'm sorry, man."

"No big deal, I'm sure he'll grow up eventually, or at least get bored of all the rejection."

"Wanna bet on which one happens first?"

We laughed then, and he seemed to cheer up, but I still felt bad that I wasn't there the previous month to keep him company at least. What mattered was that I was there then, and I began to realise that despite Mr. Mason and the other horrors of school life, part of me was a little happy to be back.

Between going to school and fussing over Leah when I was home, which she always insisted wasn't necessary, the weeks disappeared. Halloween passed quickly into November, which was a month of endless assessments and spot tests at school. I'd come home and help out with Leah. She was very heavily pregnant by then, and Carlisle worried that he'd have to deliver the babies early, which he assured me was normal for twins, but Leah still fretted over every little thing. For one thing, the babies weren't very active. They never kicked and moved very little. Carlisle could not detect any abnormalities in the ultrasounds and their heartbeats were as strong as ever. He did happen to mention that their sedateness was probably a good thing as Renesmee's exertions within Bella caused her a number of injuries, including literally putting her back out just before she gave birth. It wasn't clear how well a shapeshifter would recover from a spinal injury, so I was glad of that.

By night, I studied until my eyes were fit to fall out of their sockets. We would have end of term exams before the holidays and after Mr. Mason ripped me a new one for the apparent poor quality of my creative writing assignment, I vowed not to give him that satisfaction again. I had mostly caught up on all the term material I'd missed out on, and all the other more humane teachers complimented me on my progress, which Carlisle was pleased to hear. I noted with glee that he put little stock in Mr. Mason's foul comments on my report card.

November passed us by and with the first day of December, we got some good news. Carlisle had a full report on the genetic analysis. The chromosome pair the twins hadn't inherited was the one that coded for all the proteins that made vampire flesh so hard and durable. I knew it well as I had sensed the changes it induced in my human body directly through the blackness. The other chromosome pair apparently carried the genes for vampiric strength, speed, and the enhanced cognitive and sensory abilities, which the twins did inherit. Carlisle assessed the results as indicating that unlike Renesmee, who did carry the genes to code for vampiric flesh even if they were expressed differently because of her human attributes, the twins would be flesh and blood the same as Leah, not me. They would appear totally human on the surface, just with enhanced abilities compared to normal humans and perhaps shapeshifters, too. This news brought Leah a lot of relief, and she seemed more relaxed, which made me happy because I constantly feared her stressing would send her into premature labour.

On that day, I'd arranged a little surprise for Leah. It was nothing big, but I thought it would cheer her up some more. We hadn't decided on our living arrangements yet after the babies were born. We'd probably end up needing a place for ourselves just like Edward and Bella. For the time being, Esme had gotten two cribs and placed them in my room. There was certainly enough space, and she was getting a bed in so that we could be right beside them at all times. Leah spent a lot of time there rather than be downstairs. She just stared at the cribs with a serene smile on her face, sometimes not breaking her gaze at all if she was not disturbed. I came to the door with a hand behind my back and found her admiring some baby clothes. It was hard not to grin at the miniature outfits with shoes and socks that wouldn't even fit my thumb. She'd just looked up as she picked up a white baby cap. She smiled at me but did not try to get up and nor would I have wanted her to try. Leah was by no means of small stature, but the baby bump somehow made her seem diminutive, and the way she bore herself when she stood showed just how much of a burden it was when moving. Much like all the other troubles and discomforts this pregnancy had brought, she didn't seem to care one bit. She started admiring the cap again as I approached. She said, "My mother sent these over. They were Seth's and mine. Esme bought some stuff, too."

"It's all very cute."

"And handy, too. I really don't want to know what I'm having. This way, I'm prepared for any eventuality, two boys, two girls, or one of each."

"I'm sure whatever happened, Esme would have new stuff ordered in and delivered the next day."

"That's true, I guess. Still, it's nice to have these. My mother had been saving them for the day her first grandkids were born…"

Leah put down the cap and dipped her head, her smile disappearing. I managed to place my surprise on the floor behind me whilst I placed a hand to her face. She half-smiled but something was clearly upsetting her. I said, "What's the matter, my Leah?"

"It's okay…it just makes me sad."

"What does?"

"…That she's not here, to share this with me, and that Seth isn't here."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it's not your fault. I understand my mother's reluctance to come here and Carlisle doesn't want me travelling too far from the house. Still, at least I talk to my mother on the phone everyday. Seth hasn't been here at all."

"I know, maybe he's still coming to terms with it." I didn't believe the words as they were coming out of my mouth. Leah could tell as much. Seth had said that first day that he needed time. Well, it had been nearly three months. As far as we knew, he'd gone to spend time with his imprint, Ellie, who was from a neighbouring tribe further north. She was only thirteen, so the imprint was at the friendship stage, though Ellie apparently harboured some of the same teenager-ish impulses that Renesmee had towards Jacob. Sue wouldn't say a whole lot about him in their phone conversations, but Leah gathered enough to know that Seth was aware of her condition and that she would most likely survive the pregnancy. I was pissed off about his behaviour to say the least. If he wasn't going to come around, he should have the guts to make that clear. Instead, he just remained absent from his sister's life altogether. I contemplated heading north a few times and confronting him, but I knew that would accomplish nothing other than an argument or a fight even, which would hurt Leah even more. Leah shuffled in her seat and winced a little. I asked, "What's wrong?"

"Ah, nothing, I think the twins moved or something."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it kind of hurt."

"Do you think you're injured?"

"No, it wasn't that bad." She smiled then.

I asked, "You look really happy?"

"Yeah, I guess I'd been missing that experience, feeling your child move within you. It was something special all right."

"I love you, my Leah, and I got you a little something special, too."

"What?"

I pulled the present out from behind me and handed it to her. It was a wooden advent calendar with each day a freely spinning little square with the date on one side and on the other was something Christmassy, a decoration, a tree, a present, but on some were something baby-related, a pacifier, a cot, a rattle. Leah gasped in gratitude and astonishment. She said, "Jason, this is beautiful. Where did you get it?"

"I made it."

"Really?"

"Well, not by myself, woodwork was never my strong suit. Jasper helped with the carving, and Esme did a lot of the painting. I guess it's a gift from all of us."

"I love it. It's so beautiful."

"Turn the last square."

She did so excitedly. It read "_Babies' First Christmas_" in beautiful script. Leah just smiled, her eyes watering a little. I said, "Edward did that one."

"Thank you, Jason. It's just so amazing. Can you thank everyone for me?"

"I'm sure they can hear. I love you, Leah. I just want to make up for any misgivings I might have had at the start. I know you were unconscious for most of the first two weeks, but I had thoughts that were, in hindsight, vile, and I almost did something…much worse, something selfish because I didn't want to be without you, having just found you. I shouldn't have even considered taking this away from you. You of all people deserve to be a mother, and I know you'll be a great one."

"…Thank you, Jason. I guess I knew you would consider the most obvious and painless method of ending it if the time came. To be honest, if at that point, I was going to die, and the babies weren't going to survive anyways, I wouldn't have blamed you. My death then would have been pointless. I understand your perspective then but clearly, your subconscious knew something you didn't, or your ability did."

"So, you already had this all figured out?"

"I knew enough about your ability to worry that you might consider using it that way. I just didn't know how to broach the subject and to be honest, I didn't get a whole lot of opportunity. Still, when you told me your ability had disappeared because you tried to do something it didn't want to do, it wasn't hard to put the pieces together."

"Wow, I thought you'd hate me or at least be angry."

"I was more disappointed, but only a little. I just wish you had a bit more faith in me. I'm stronger than you think."

"It was hard to be that objective, I guess."

"I get that. All that matters is that all of us are here now and well."

Leah lurched forward a little. She seemed a little disconcerted. I asked, "Some more movement?"

"Yeah, I think one of them kicked me." I smiled. She looked mildly offended.

Suddenly, I felt a presence at the door. I also got a human odour that was almost overwhelmed by the smell of dog. I turned to see Esme standing there. She had one of her brightest smiles on as she said, "Leah, you have a few visitors."

She stepped aside and Sue appeared followed by Seth. I was stunned, almost as much by the fact that I hadn't heard them arrive as by their being there at all. Leah became very emotional on seeing them. She was so happy, having not seen either of them face to face for months. I stood as her mother rushed over to her and enclosed her in a hug. Seth edged a bit closer as they embraced until he was level with me. Sue was commenting on how glowing her daughter looked, and they speculated about how long was left and would she really hold out to her due date. Seth turned to me, his face taut with tension. He didn't seem angry or aggressive, though, just discomfited. He held out a hand to me and said, "Congratulations."

I took it uncertainly but said, "Thanks, Seth."

"I'm sorry…to both of you, when we were certain she was going to be okay, I should have done this right away, but I was too ashamed of how I reacted in the first place." He turned to his sister who was looking at him intently. He squatted down until he was level with her and said, "I love you, sis. I'm sorry if I hurt you. The things I said were out of line and when I promised I'd be there for you, I wasn't, but I'm here now and I plan to stay, if you'll let me. So, forgive me?"

Leah had an unreadable expression for a second and I almost thought she'd say no, but then she drew her brother into a hug and said, "Of course I do, you big idiot."

Sue then said, "I hope you can forgive me, too, Leah. I had reservations about coming here but given the circumstances, they weren't important, and I should have seen that. It was actually a call from Esme that convinced me to come, at which point I pretty much guilted Seth into coming, too."

"I actually came of my own free will, thank you." Said Seth.

Leah laughed and said, "Mother, all that matters is that you're both here now. I've missed you both so much. I'm glad you'll be here when the babies come."

Esme stepped into the room a little and said, "Sorry to interrupt, but I've made lunch for Leah and both of you. Leah, if you feel up to coming downstairs…"

She was about to open her mouth when she bent over a little and pressed her hands to the base of her belly. She looked in shock, like she couldn't believe something. Then, she replied, "Yeah, Esme, lunch sounds great, but I think it'll have to wait."

"Ah, why, dear?"

"Because my waters just broke."


	10. Chapter 10: Uninvited

**UNINVITED**

It was a blur, even for me, getting from my room to Carlisle's office. The words were no sooner out of Leah's mouth that she found herself on the examination bed again, somewhat bewildered at the sudden change of scenery. Carlisle was already there, and Esme, Seth, and Sue were only a few moments behind. Everyone must have heard those words slip from Leah's mouth as Fiona zoomed into the office not a moment later, and I could hear the others scrambling for position along the staircase. Leah still looked confused as I held her hand. That was it, though. She showed no signs of pain or discomfort or that the contractions had started. Carlisle was busy prepping some nasty-looking needle that must have been the epidural. Fiona came up to Leah's opposite side, took her other hand, and said, "Leah, I understand if you've gotten used to Carlisle's care throughout your pregnancy, but I thought you might prefer if I deliver the twins. I was once a midwife, and perhaps you'd find it more comfortable if you get my meaning."

Leah looked even more confused for a second but then, understanding dawned on her and she replied, "_Yeah_, yeah, I would actually." Her eyes wandered over to Esme, her brother and mother standing nervously at the door. She said, "And you guys can move over to the side of the room if you don't mind. Especially you, Seth, you don't need to see any of the birthing process where I'm concerned."

Seth blushed, looked at the ground, and made his way over to the corner of the room behind Leah's head. Esme went to Fiona to ask was there any way she could assist her whilst Sue joined me at Leah's side. I gave her her daughter's hand, and she held it tight between both of hers. Leah smiled, she was so happy to have her mother here, I could tell, and frankly, I was more than relieved that she and Seth had come. Carlisle consulted briefly with Fiona as Esme left to fetch some things for her. He then came to Leah's side where Fiona had been and said, "Leah, the epidural is ready. I can administer it immediately. We'll just have to put you on your side. There will be some discomfort, but it will be over relatively quickly."

Leah replied, "What you mean to say is that it'll hurt, and it won't be over nearly as fast as I'd like."

Carlisle smiled warmly and said, "I suppose if I were to be brutally honest, yes."

Leah nodded and said to no one in particular, "It's strange, though."

I cocked an eyebrow as a faraway look came across her face, a look of contemplation. I asked, "What's strange, my Leah?"

"I don't feel anything."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I'm feeling no pain, no contractions, not even mild discomfort. In fact, I feel pretty good."

Fiona stopped whatever she was doing and looked at Leah peculiarly. Carlisle also looked concerned, as did everyone else, especially Esme and Sue who had both experienced childbirth personally. Carlisle checked the heart monitors and could still see three steady heartbeats. He said, "Curious, Leah's and the twins' heart rates are all at normal levels. I would have expected at least a little pickup by now. Leah, describe to me exactly how you feel."

"I feel…relaxed, happy, just…totally content."

Fiona looked almost perturbed, but she put on a smile as she came up beside Carlisle and said, "Leah, I'm going to check you to see if you've started dilating yet. It may take a good number of hours yet before you are ready to deliver."

"I know, ten centimetres, I looked it up."

"Good, well, are you okay with me getting started?"

"Okay, but anybody who doesn't need to be down there, get behind me. That includes you, Jason. I've read that some men get put off by seeing this, if you know what I mean."

Okay, so Leah was a bit too relaxed. Sharing that little nugget of information drew a death stare on me from Sue, and everyone else just looked disturbed. Leah had been wearing a light dress, so there was no awkwardness when Fiona went to check her, but I could see Leah was painfully uncomfortable with this. Perhaps not everyone needed to be there all at once. I especially didn't think Leah planned to have her younger brother present when she delivered her first child. I was about to suggest as much when Fiona uttered the word, "Impossible."

That drew us all up short, especially Leah, who demanded with panic in her voice, "What? What's wrong?"

Fiona came back to herself and said, "Oh, my, I'm so sorry, Leah. I didn't mean to frighten you. It's just that…I know this may be a bit fast for you, but you're going to have to start pushing. You're already fully dilated."

"What? But I've been in labour for what, five minutes?"

"Consider yourself extremely lucky."

Carlisle interjected, "Are you certain of this, Fiona? I fully expected to have to perform a c-section; especially given the twins are technically premature."

"It is what it is, Carlisle, we may as well proceed the natural way. Now, Leah, are you feeling the urge to push?"

"I'm feeling something."

"And still no pain?"

"Nothing, nothing at all."

"…Okay, I want you to try and push, just once. There is still no guarantee you'll be able to deliver them both naturally, okay?"

"Okay…"

"Al right, now push."

Leah heaved her body, but it didn't seem difficult for her or any way uncomfortable. She still had that serene look on her face like she was just performing yoga or something. Fiona gasped and said, "Okay, Leah, I can see the head. Ah, maybe one more push."

Something welled up inside me at those words. This was going way too easily, especially considering how the pregnancy started. From what I knew, Renesmee's birth was horrific and Bella almost died. Did it mean something was wrong with the twins? Would they be born alive even?

_Okay, calm, you can see the heart monitor, they're okay. _I was surprised at myself, the difference a few months could make between me wanting to terminate the pregnancy and now hoping desperately that the twins were okay.

Leah heaved her body gently once more, and the cry that issued forth dispelled all my fears. A different emotion spread through me as Fiona held up my child, the first of the twins, and it was a girl. Not that I could see anything but her face, and I wasn't paying any attention to Fiona if she had said it, but somehow, I could tell. She looked like me, my eye colour, hair colour, and her skin was as fair as freshly fallen snow only broken by the slight blush in her cheeks. I didn't expect that. I thought with Leah's colouring that she'd be darker. Her eyes locked with mine, and she didn't cry anymore. Her lips curved into the slightest smile, and then she made a small happy laugh. Nothing around me registered, only that face, that beautiful little sound.

_How could I have ever hated you?_

If I had been human, I'd have been in tears. That was my child, my beautiful little girl. I was hit with so many emotions at once that it was only with the support of the bed that I stayed standing. I then saw Leah, and she was looking at me with adoration. Saying she was happy, saying that she was grateful, that this was all she ever wanted, would all be so incredibly inadequate to describe what I saw in her eyes. Esme came around to take my daughter, as Fiona cut the umbilical cord. Leah suddenly heaved again, a bit more forcefully this time. She gasped and said, "I think number two is eager to make an exit."

Fiona smiled and said, "It's okay, just go with it. Push."

This time was even easier. He came out all at once, and Fiona had to catch him. I knew it was a boy because Fiona said, "Where are you off to, little man?"

A son, a silly feeling of pride overcame me. I supposed all fathers feel like this when they are told they've gotten a son, not that daughters are any less amazing, especially if my feelings on seeing my own for the first time were anything to go by. All the same, I just felt all chuffed and giddy inside whereas my daughter made me feel wonder and protectiveness. Fiona brought him to me after she'd cut the cord. He looked more like Leah with a full head of black hair and brown eyes, though his skin tone was just a tad lighter than hers. He looked up at me with an almost curious look upon his face. He definitely looked like his mother, even the expression. Fiona held him out to me and said, "Well, aren't you going to take him?"

I took him gingerly in my arms, afraid I might hurt him or drop him. Someone, I thought Carlisle, had pushed a chair up behind me, and I sat slowly whilst looking into his eyes. Esme had given our daughter to Leah. There it was again, that tiny, magical giggle reverberating straight into our hearts. Leah was crying, but her tears were happy ones. Our little girl was already proving a handful as she tried to grab everything, including Leah's nose, but she just laughed with her through her tears. I laughed, too, but our son just stayed silent, smiling only slightly as he put his little hand around my thumb. The love and the elation I was feeling was almost thick in the air as though we were surrounded by it. Nothing could surpass this moment.

"Well, what should I call my first grandchildren?" Sue said as she stood behind me at the head of the bed. Leah and I looked at each other wordlessly. Names, with everything that had been going on, we never discussed it. Everyone was looking at us a bit incredulously but as I looked into my son's eyes, without thought, I replied, "Harry, his name is Harry."

Sue looked at me, almost stunned for a moment, and then it was her turn to cry. She even put her hand on my shoulder as she looked at her grandson. She said, "Thank you."

"It's only right, I think. I'm proud to have him named for Leah's dad."

Leah looked at me, completely choked up. Her eyes met those of her giggling, playful daughter once more as Sue asked, "And her? What will you name her?"

Leah replied, "I'm naming her Chloe."

I didn't know what to say. I wanted to cry aloud at this point, the emotion was overwhelming but as I looked at her, I knew it was perfect. She looked almost exactly like my sister, especially the eyes. I couldn't look away from them, as I realised that in some way, she'd come back to me.

After the babies had been properly cleaned up, Leah was seen to, but her shapeshifter body was quick to heal itself. She hadn't even needed stitches. Within an hour of the birth, she was back on her feet, and we carried our children to their cribs. Carlisle couldn't say for certain what their dietary requirements might be, whether they would immediately demand blood or if they could subsist on milk. Leah wanted to try to breastfeed them, which she discussed with Fiona. Something about it was uncomfortable, so I just stuck to playing with the twins with Seth, who'd also taken a liking to Chloe, but he seemed to be the only one that Harry would laugh for. Sue and Esme, of course, fussed over them endlessly, and I knew everyone else was waiting with bated breath for their turn. Edward arrived with Bella and Renesmee in tow. He congratulated me, shook my hand, and even drew me into a hug, which surprised me even though things had vastly improved between us. Bella was a bit briefer with her courtesies, but only because her and Renesmee wanted to join the other women in fawning over the twins. Jacob arrived in and shook my hand, but he went straight to Leah to draw her into a hug before admiring the latest male addition to the tribe. Alice arrived with Jasper, and Emmett and Dermot arrived in my room together. Alice, of course, squeezed the life out of me but then skipped off to look into the cribs with the rest. Jasper was more formal and simply shook my hand and offered me congratulations. Between Emmett and Dermot, I was surprised they didn't tear me apart. Vampires don't need to breathe, but having all the air forced out of your lungs is still not a desirable experience.

When Rosalie arrived at the door, I was taken aback.

She had her arms folded, but her expression looked contrite. We hadn't really spoken or seen each other much since what she said to me about Leah's pregnancy, well, with the exception of her little blow-out over me introducing Dermot and Emmett. She looked at me, and I could just tell how hard this was for her, so I listened. She said, "Congratulations, Jason."

"Thank you, Rosalie."

"…I just wanted to say I know I've been very unsupportive and very harsh to you in particular. I convinced myself that I was somehow being forthright and that you needed to hear those things but really, I was bitter because you got by accident and chance what I can never have no matter what I do. I know I've lived vicariously through Bella for the last few years, but I still long for having that feeling for myself. None of that excuses me, of course, but I wanted to apologise. It's already hard, as I know Emmett sees you like a brother, and Dermot is like his new bestie, much to my distaste. I just don't want there to be any more tension. So, I'm sorry."

I looked to Emmett who had his usual cheeky smile on. I guessed he must have talked to her because he couldn't help being the big brother, regardless of the circumstance, and I knew he would much prefer if his mate and I could get along. So, I replied, "I accept. Now, how about you go do what you really came here for?"

Rosalie looked confused, maybe even offended, and replied, "What do you mean?"

"Go play with the babies."

Her expression changed instantly to the biggest of smiles, and she said, "Thank you," just before running off to snatch Chloe away from Bella.

I heard Dermot say, "Rosalie, I knew deep down you had a soft spot for me."

Rosalie sneered as she held the baby and said, "Don't bet on it. Back off, I refuse to use foul language around children."

Dermot and Emmett broke down into laughter, and the rest of us couldn't help but get drawn in. I looked over at Leah, and she looked back. Her laugh was infectious, and her smile just lit up everything, as if this day needed any more lighting up. Everyone stopped to fawn over Chloe as she burst into giggly laughter with the rest of us. Harry was as stolid as ever until Seth got his hands on him, bringing him over to his sister. He reached out to his sister in Rosalie's arms, and their little hands met, holding on to each other. I didn't think the awing would ever stop, especially as they both got sleepy heads on them and had to be put down to bed. Rosalie, Bella, Esme, and Sue helped Leah with tucking them in, though that many hands were hardly necessary for the job. Renesmee looked on fascinated, and she put an arm around Jacob who had come to stand beside her. Edward raised an eyebrow at that, but I guessed he decided to inflict harm on Jacob at a more appropriate time.

As the twins nodded off, everyone quietly excused themselves, offering further congratulations as they left. Rosalie was the last to go, but she made sure to offer her services as babysitter whenever we needed as she looked longingly back at the cribs. In the end, Emmett had to gently pull her to snap her out of it. The door closed, and there was silence, except for the beating of three hearts, those three hearts that were everything to me. Leah and I fell into each other's arms as we cried with happiness.

Christmas, this day should have been the twin's birthdays, if Leah had had her way. Alas, that whole idea was not meant to be, but the trade-off was that we got to spend every day on the calendar with them. We turned each tile on the Advent calendar with their tiny hands until, by day twenty, they'd gotten the whole idea and turned the last of them themselves. On the day, they were absolutely showered with gifts. Most of it was practical, baby clothes for nearly every season and occasion and in the case of Alice's offerings, all of it was very stylish. If she had her way, they'd be getting on a red carpet as soon as they took a step. That event, though, mightn't have been as far off as we'd have liked, and those baby clothes would soon become obsolete. By New Year's Day, Carlisle said that the twins definitely had an accelerated growth rate. I could have told him that, any of us could. At one month old, they both looked to be six months, probably older, and the rate would only increase. Carlisle assured us that it would level off like Renesmee's growth rate, and that the twins had at least six years of physical childhood ahead of them. We knew we should rely on Carlisle's past experience, but there was always that niggling worry.

By February, it was clear that all those first experiences with our kids would come in a rush. Chloe was the first to talk. Esme had her on a high chair beside her brother at the table as she fed them scrambled egg. Like Renesmee, they'd developed a taste for them, and they turned their noses up at anything else, except Leah's milk, which I still wasn't totally at ease with. Carlisle had told us they were ready for solid food by the end of January, but they hadn't shown any signs of wanting blood yet, or biting for that matter, even when they were held by one of the Quileutes. Chloe was the more vocal one since they were born. She was always playing, always moving, always grasping everything in reach, and she was always making those sweet giggling sounds. Even the smallest of things seemed to delight her. Well, that day, Esme had just finished feeding her her eggs when in a laughing, excited voice, Chloe demanded, "More!"

Everyone turned and gasped. Even Harry glanced at his sister, though with a look that said he could have totally done that, too, if he wanted. Of course, myself and Leah came over and cuddled her, all impressed and happy, but Chloe was only concerned with more, more, more! She'd already been overexposed to Alice, so we should have known this would be a consequence. That is, a consequence of asking her to be godmother. She had been so ecstatic when I asked that she nearly squeezed my head off my shoulders. I asked Emmett to be Chloe's godfather, and I could have sworn he was trying not to cry. After hugging me and saying he'd be honoured, Rosalie led him away with a loving smile on her face. From Leah's side, Sue and Jacob would be godparents to Chloe also.

As for Harry, I couldn't not have Fiona and Dermot involved, and they were delighted to be asked. I knew this was an experience neither of them thought they would ever have, and that was especially hard considering their human family was still alive. Leah was going to ask her cousin Emily to be godmother to Harry as she'd been trying to mend their relationship since she imprinted on me. Without a doubt, Seth had to be a godparent. He was still the only one the boy would crack a smile for, and the only one who could ever get him out of the deep contemplation he always seemed to be locked in. He was so different from Chloe. Whilst she was overactive, he was almost sedentary. He was quite content to sit in one place for hours on end and look over every square centimetre of an object, be it a rattle, a toy truck, or a playbook. He'd just turn it over in his hands, hold it up in the air, observe it from every possible angle and in the end, he'd just put it aside and move on to something else. Despite his quiet and unobtrusive nature, he did not sleep nearly as long as his sister. I knew because I just sat and read whilst Leah and twins nodded off each night. Four hours was the longest I clocked him sleeping, and nearly every night he'd doze off at midnight and wake up long before sunrise. I guessed Chloe ran down more of her energy reserves during the day but still, that endless look of intense concentration, like he was studying these things.

One night, in the middle of February, at around ten to twelve, I had just put down some homework reading, for English no less, I wasn't going to give Mr. Mason the satisfaction of me falling behind again. I felt eyes on me. Something tonight was different. When I turned, Harry was standing, holding the wooden bars of his cot. His eyes had been boring into the back of my head, like he wanted me to realise it, and it worked. He pointed at something on the locker beside the bed. All that was there was my wolf sculpture, which I had moved there. I stood, picked it up, and then knelt down in front of Harry, cradling the sculpture. He put his hands out for it, but I reached through the bars and ruffled his thick black hair and said, "It's almost midnight, little man. Isn't it about time for you to be nodding off." To my surprise, he shook his head in the negative and kept his hands held out. I asked, "Why not?"

He considered a moment. Then, he spoke. "Not finished."

So, not one word, two words, two totally relevant, coherent words. I was gobsmacked and just stared at him dumbly for what must have been a minute. He just waited patiently with his arms still extended. I asked, "What…what are you trying to do, my Harry?" I'd taken to calling the twins my Chloe and my Harry. Leah loved it.

He replied, "Learn."

"Learn? Learn what?"

"…Everything."

I handed him the sculpture, stood back, and watched. He scrutinised it for one hour exactly, set it aside, and went to sleep. That night I worried something might be wrong, for he did not wake again for eight hours.

The next morning, Leah was so disappointed that she'd missed her son's first words and picked him up, trying to encourage him to speak again, but when I retold her the story of what exactly had happened, she looked at Harry with different eyes. She held him that bit tighter to her and stopped ruffling his hair. I found it a bit disconcerting when it seemed that Harry sensed Leah's worry, but he only changed his expression to one of slight concern, he was much more interested in focusing on his mother's hand. We brought him to Carlisle's office, hoping he could shed some light on Harry's behaviour. We explained everything, and he informed us he'd been observing the twins, too, but he couldn't tell us much else besides. "Your children are entirely unique. The only ever offspring between a vampire and a Quileute shapeshifter. How they will develop is anyone's guess. Even my experience with Renesmee may not fully prepare us for what is to come for them. All I can tell you is to expect surprises."

"Like being able to hold a conversation with them when they are not even three months old?" I asked.

"Certainly, that may be only the beginning. They will likely be mobile soon and vampiric speed and strength will follow. Do not even be surprised if they acquire abilities like Renesmee. Both Bella and Edward have them and given your own, Jason, it is a distinct possibility that the twins will develop them."

Leah seemed unconcerned with abilities and asked, "That's all well and good, but what about Harry?" She whispered the last bit to not let him overhear. If he did, he took no notice. He was intently scrutinising a needle-less syringe whilst seated on the examination bed. We both looked at him with concern. Would he always be like this? Was there even anything wrong? Carlisle seemed to sense our questions. "If you're worried he has some disorder affecting his sociability, I can't say no with absolute certainty, but he does not display the classic signs of autism or any such condition. You have to remember that when he's with his uncle, he behaves as any normal child would."

Leah replied, "But even that is strange, isn't it? He responds like that to Seth only."

"Not necessarily, and children's behaviour and who they will respond to changes all the time. It's just part of growing up."

"So this mightn't last?"

"Leah, all I can tell you is what I know as a doctor. Even if this is permanent, you clearly have a very special child. All he has said is that he wants to learn about things. That is definitely not a bad attribute in a little boy."

I grabbed the seat rests so hard I crushed them. I seized up. Pain, tearing, ripping through my head. The blackness, it had returned, exploding out of the recess it had dived so deeply into, but I had not roused it, and nothing seemed to have triggered it. Both Leah and Carlisle were at my side, but only he touched me, trying to shake me out of what must have looked like a seizure. The blackness was angry. I could almost feel the emotion that wasn't my own raging away inside my head. The incoherent fury was fighting to be released, but not to escape my mind, but to return down into the depths of its cave in my brain. I didn't understand. I wasn't doing this, but the blackness wasn't doing it of its own volition.

It was being _forced_.

The chaos in my mind was slowly but surely turning to some kind of order, but the pain did not abate. I was still frozen in place, as the tendril formed and snaked out of my mind, shuddering as it went, as though it could snap back at any moment. I felt like a puppet, my body hanging uselessly as my ability was pulled out of me on strings that I could not perceive. The tendril crawled backwards through the air. Every inch was a knife into my skull; the pain was just too intense. I felt like my head would explode before this was over. Something was happening. The tendril was interacting with something just as Leah screamed. "Oh my God, _no!_"

She ran out of my field of view, but I could feel her hands grappling with whatever the blackness had a hold of. This had to stop. Carlisle was out of sight, too, and had taken the object from Leah, but even he was struggling to keep on to it. I tried to influence the blackness as I'd done so many times before, but I had no part in this, and neither did it, I sensed. I heard crying drawing closer. It sounded like Chloe. I then heard footsteps on the stairs and the office door swinging open. I heard Rosalie's voice. "Oh my God, what's going on?"

Chloe's tears rang in my ears. I just wanted to get up and hold her, but I was still completely immobilised. Then, I felt a sudden release, and I braced myself. The tendril snapped back into my mind violently, almost slicing through as it went, taking the most direct route to its recess, but not the one of least resistance. I collapsed out of chair onto the ground. The pain was unimaginable. It was almost as bad as when I'd first lost my ability, but this pain seemed enduring and the excruciating intensity did not simply peak and pass. I felt like I was being punished by the blackness for allowing this violation to happen. It clearly still hadn't forgiven me, if that at all made sense. I struggled back into my chair and each movement brought more agony. When I was seated and I could finally bear to open my eyes, the scene that greeted me was confounding. Harry and Chloe were seated together on the bed while everyone else just watched in awe. Chloe was doing that expression of intense focus that I normally expected of her brother, but he was the one she was focusing on, and her eyes that were usually the light baby blue that mine once were had turned that deep sapphire blue like those of my parents. Harry, the child who was always so intense, looked dopey almost. He actually started to fall to one side, but Leah caught him in her arms. She looked at Chloe and said, "Sweetheart, it's okay now. Will you stop for mommy, please?"

Just like that, she was back to her old self, all smiles and blonde ringlets and eyes that were the lightest blue. Harry still seemed out of it, but he seemed to be returning to the land of the living. Chloe's expression hardened as she looked at him and she said, "Bad boy, bad!"

Harry looked very indignant, but I saw guilt there, too. It was discomfiting to see such complex emotions play across the face of one so young. Chloe was looking down her nose at him and even folded her arms. Before I could say a word or make any more of this, I passed out.

I was there again, that vast, featureless snowfield to which I could see an end, but there wasn't really one there. The horizon curved away from me on all sides, and no matter how far I went, the trees in front never seemed closer, and the mountains behind never seemed further. Like before, darkness and cold descended, penetrating, crippling cold that I could not resist. I collapsed onto my knees, huddling into my own body, but it felt like the cold was passing through me as though I was a ghost. I was enveloped in the pitch black. I could barely perceive the snow on the ground but centimetres from my face. The faintest of light that had illuminated just the spot I lay on suddenly brightened to an almost blinding radiance. I was warm again in a split second, as though the cold never existed. I stood to find the shaft of light that surrounded me didn't even extend an arm's length away. Then, right before me, a crumpled form appeared on the ground.

I gasped. It was Leah.

Her vacant eyes stared up at me, her neck bent at an impossible angle. Blood ran from her mouth, her nose, her eyes even but then sank into the blackness without a trace. There was no light around her. Her body seemed to be just set against the black, contrasting sharply with it. I tried to keep calm. I knew this wasn't real. As gut-wrenching as it was to look at, I knew my Leah was safe in the real world. I could still faintly hear her voice and those of the others. Then, the sound of Chloe's crying reached me, sounding so very distant. As much as it broke my heart to listen to it, I held on because I knew it was real, and I sorely wanted out of this waking nightmare. "It won't be a nightmare for long."

I turned to see Fionn, the same as always, standing there in the black, set against it like Leah. As he walked, he disturbed nothing, made no sound, the darkness just refilled the space behind him. I turned to him. "It will be part of your reality soon," he said ominously as he stood just outside the shaft of light, facing me.

I looked at the broken body on the ground. I asked, "How? When?"

"They will be lost to you, too."

I looked in the opposite direction of Leah. Harry and Chloe stood there, holding hands, looking a bit older than they did in reality. They were stock-still and frightened. I saw the faint outlines of something moving behind them. Two forms emerged wearing dark robes. I could see almost nothing of their faces but bright red eyes. The twins held each other in their arms and looked up at the two figures looming over them. Fionn said, "They're here. _She_ is here."

"Who?"

"You know who."

Suddenly, I felt intense heat envelop me and in the place where Harry and Chloe had been standing, there was an inferno. Raging flames ripped across the blackness but illuminated nothing. Then, one of the dark figures with the red eyes stepped through the flames, completely untouched, and stood staring at me. Peeking just from under the hood, I could see a malevolent smile. I turned to Fionn who just stood there impassively. I said, "Why are you doing this? What's the point of showing me any of this if you won't really tell me anything?"

"The truth is here before you, and danger is nearing."

I snarled and said, "Cut the bullshit. If there is danger coming, then help me. Get out of your fucking recess and help me protect Leah and my children."

"You have not yet learned the value of what you now possess."

"Are you bloody kidding me? My family's lives are hanging in the balance, and you're holding out on me over a nicety."

"…You have not learned."

I reached out and grabbed him by the arms, pulling him into the light. I shook him, pulling his face up to mine. I said, "You listen here, you bastard. I don't care about your punishments, or your riddles, or the little huff you've been in the past few months. You better fucking help, or…"

"_Or what?_"

In the blink of an eye, he was out of my hands and back where he had been. The expression of indifference was replaced by vehement rage as he stared me down. The shaft of light disappeared, even the faint luminance from before was gone. The cold fell upon me, and I was instantly on my knees. It was indescribably bitter, crushing me down as if the cold itself had weight. I felt my fingers and toes freeze and lock in place. My arms and legs stiffened but the cold kept pushing me downwards until, with a resounding snap, both my knees were torn as I was pressed onto my back. I felt the icy snow beneath me but could see none of it. My ribs and my arm bones began to fracture as my whole body froze solid, but I could still feel every single crack as it happened. Frost began to form all over me. My jaw hung open, the inside of my mouth and down into my chest freezing as my last breaths issued forth as billowing white clouds that dissipated into the blackness like everything else. I stopped breathing, but I was not dead, just numb, immobile, helpless. Fionn descended from above, his face staring into mine as he floated over my frozen body. He said, "You underestimate me, a primitive-minded entity? Animal-like?"

I tried to speak but nothing moved, not even my eyes. He continued, "You are the animal, the primitive one. You are that shaft of light, and I am all of this, this psyche of night, of dark. You can be snuffed out, extinguished whereas I exist always. Remember that before you presume to threaten me."

The frost disappeared, my bones mended, my body loosened. I sat up as Fionn reeled away from me, screaming bloody murder. The blackness around me began to tear as light flooded in, and warmth swept away the bitter cold. Standing beside me was Chloe, but looking as she did in reality. Fionn continued to roar in defiance, but then Chloe simply pointed her finger at him and said, "Bad!"

The vision disintegrated and my eyes were open on the world again. I shot up into a sitting position to find Chloe sitting in my lap, looking at me expectantly. I just caught the dark hue fading out of her eyes to be replaced by her usual eye colour. I didn't know how she had done it, but she had gotten me out of that absolute hell, so I picked her up and hugged her tightly. I said, "Thank you, my Chloe-bear."

She giggled that musical laugh of hers, and a real sense of calm spread through me. I saw that everyone was here. Edward looked at me grimly from across the room. I knew he'd have a story to tell of his perspective of the goings-on inside my head. Right then, I didn't want to know. Harry was on the ground, standing without support. He hobbled over to me slowly but without falling once. He got under my opposite arm and snuggled into me. He said, "Sorry, daddy, for hurting you."

He said it in such a small, sad voice that I wanted to cry. He had drawn the blackness, manipulated it, forced it to do his bidding, which was to bring him something he couldn't reach himself. He was obviously unaware that the blackness's attempts to fight back were causing me pain. I held him tightly to me, his small body radiating warmth into me, banishing the cold like nothing else. Leah kneeled down beside us, cradling her hand. It was inflamed, the skin torn on her palm and some of her fingers. I said, "Leah, what happened?"

"I tried to shake you awake a minute ago. Your skin was freezing, much colder than usual, so much so that my hand stuck to you."

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. It'll heal quickly."

"I love you, my Leah. I love you all. It's going to be okay."

She smiled for a moment before cuddling into me. Everyone slowly left, letting us be alone together. Edward probably had the gist of what happened, so he could explain it all. Right then, I wanted nothing more than to sit with my family, to be with them, to hold them all close. Whatever about the machinations of the blackness, the games it played, whenever it foresaw danger, I had learned to take heed. I didn't know when they were coming, or what their intentions were, but there was no second-guessing the "who" in the equation. The Volturi, they were coming for us once more.

"I can't confirm any of that, Jason." Alice said, frustrated.

"Alice, I know my visions aren't nearly as informative or even coherent as yours, but I know there is truth to the warning."

"That may be so, but I'm telling you I don't have anything to back it up. I always watch the decisions of as many members of the Volturi as I can, but I haven't gotten the sense of a move against us in the works from any of them."

"Are you watching Jane?"

"Yes, of course, why?"

"In the vision, I was told that a _she_ was coming specifically."

"That's strange. Surely saying, "They're coming" alone would have covered all the Volturi. I fail to see why Jane needs a particular mention."

Jasper said, "Perhaps the blackness sees her as a particular threat. She can incapacitate you after all."

Edward replied, "But then why not mention Alec? He is as much a threat to Jason as Jane. Besides, this is ignoring the fact that Bella can nullify those threats."

Jasper shrugged and Carlisle stepped forward. "Whatever the case may be, we have to assume that the Volturi's intentions are hostile. We may have to call up our friends and allies once more."

Esme stood by her mate and said, "Has anyone wondered what their cause for coming might be? We have already proven that Renesmee is not a threat to our kind. Could this not simply be a check-up of some sort?"

I replied, "I'm sorry, Esme, but the blackness warned me of danger. If it was just the Volturi checking in, I doubt I'd even have had a vision."

Jacob stood and said, "In that case, I better go get the packs prepped and ready. Sam is going to love this, another opportunity to send the bloodsucker royalty scurrying off with their tails between their legs. Well, that's what _he'd_ be thinking."

Bella cast her eyes to heaven and said, "You're not at all subtle, Jacob."

"I don't do subtle."

"Tell me about it."

Carlisle said, "I'll call the Denalis, they can get here the quickest. I'll then start contacting everyone else. Jasper, perhaps you can get in touch with Peter and Charlotte."

"Certainly."

"Fiona, would you like to contact Siobhan? I'm sure she'd prefer an update from you."

"I'll call her straight away."

"Good, I guess there's nothing more to be said until we have more information…"

"Excuse me, everyone." Renesmee came in from outside with Harry and Chloe in tow. She had not been a part of our impromptu meeting, which we'd convened three days after my vision. Edward and Bella were as always fiercely protective of her, and some of the topics that came up were obviously not for those of a sensitive disposition. I really thought that the two of them needed to seriously re-evaluate the thickness of their daughter's skin. Sensitive was just not a term I associated with Renesmee, though this was not an opinion I cared to share with Edward or Bella. I valued my own personal wellbeing too much. As soon as they were inside, I could hear the sighs building from Edward's direction, but then the twins ran across to Alice, and everyone took the moment to admire their adorable runs. They were fully up and about since the day before. It was almost impossible to get them to bed, even Chloe. They just seemed so fascinated with this new concept of moving about by themselves. Unfortunately, their rate of growth had left them unsteady, and they did almost as much tripping and stumbling as running. _Fortunately_, their ability to heal meant that any bumps and scratches were gone before they were even noticed, so there were few tears. Even when there were, we were there to comfort them. It was funny; we got so much joy out of watching the two of them get such joy out of something as simple as walking. We just hoped the days of their childhood weren't numbered, nor our own. "I'm sorry, they insisted." Renesmee said as she joined her parents.

Alice crouched down to them and with a smile, she said, "That's okay, what can your auntie do for you today? Would Chloe like to play with my makeup some more?"

I could see Leah just about to object when Harry said, "No, I have something to show you."

"Really? What?"

Harry just placed his hand to Alice's face, and she froze, inhaling sharply. Her eyes moved around quickly in their sockets like REM before she stumbled backward. Leah and I were with the twins just as Jasper zoomed up beside his mate. He said, "Alice, are you okay?" She did not answer at first. She just kept breathing deeply as though she needed it and kept a stunned look on her face as if she was reading something shocking. When she did not respond a second time, Jasper held her shoulders and looked right into her eyes and exclaimed, "_Alice!_ Are you okay?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine. Just give me a minute to sort through this."

"What happened?"

"I don't know. It was a vision, but it was nothing like any I've had before."

Carlisle asked, "How so?"

"I didn't just see images, I saw times and dates. I saw exact locations. I saw the current decisions of multiple people at once, and I also saw the various ways their courses could change. I could see past _all_ interference. I even saw the Quileute's future paths, and you, Jason, I've just learned you're like a semi-interferent."

"How exactly?" I asked.

"The blackness, its presence can block out certain visions because it is unlike anything I've experienced, which was why I didn't sense the severity of the storm last fall that nearly took away the house." Esme shuddered just remembering it.

Edward replied, "It's incredible. I'm seeing it now. It's the most comprehensive vision she's had, I'll say that much."

Alice replied sarcastically, "Why thank you, Edward."

"Don't mention it."

Carlisle asked, "What does this vision contain exactly?"

"Aro's plan, or lack thereof. He hasn't made any firm decisions yet. He's waiting."

"Waiting for what?"

"For a signal, a call from someone he has recently acquired, the latest member of the Guard."

"Anyone we know?"

"No, but that's not what disturbs me. It's his location."

"Where is he?"

"…Just north of the border in Canada."

"What?" Jacob exclaimed.

"He's been there for almost a month in preparation, waiting for more information from his new protégé. I'm guessing this particular lapse was caused by the blackness."

Jacob asked, "So what now? If King Bloodsucker makes a decision now, he and his posse could be here in a few hours tops. Everyone else is going to need more time to get here."

Carlisle said, "The situation does look grim."

Alice added, "I hate to be the bearer of more bad news, but you'll have to get the Denalis to divert east a ways before coming here. A straight course would put them in the midst of Volturi patrols when they reach the border."

"I hate to think what Aro would do if he caught them, but this will delay them getting here a great deal. I imagine that was Aro's plan, was it not?" Alice simply nodded in affirmation.

Jasper said, "I know we have more important things to consider, but has anyone wondered what it is that Harry has done to Alice?"

All eyes were on him then, but Harry seemed unfazed. He just said innocently, "I made her see better."

I put my arm around him as I was crouched beside him and asked, "Can you tell us what you mean by that?"

He looked at me oddly as though his last statement should have been explanation enough. He said, "Auntie Alice didn't see good, so I fixed it."

Edward interjected, "Hey, Renesmee, how about you take the twins back outside to play?"

Strangely, she didn't argue. "Okay, come on you two rascals, let's race down to the river, and see who can jump it."

Neither of them needed any persuading, and they were off. Leah called after them to be careful, but it was hard when your kids weren't vulnerable to typical accidents to convince them to be safe. When they were outside, Edward said, "Sorry, Jason, I didn't mean to cut across you there, but Harry doesn't quite have the words to explain himself yet. He understands perfectly what he did, just not in terms that would clear it up for us."

"But you do?"

"You're going to love this, Alice. In simplest terms, he upgraded you."

"Excuse me." She replied.

"I've been speculating about him since he was born, but I think he has the ability to manipulate the abilities of others. He's always trying to learn, to understand, but when it comes to our talents, he can use them himself as with Jason, or change them as he's just done with Alice."

"But how has he changed me?"

"Your visions are subjective, Alice, open to interpretation, and easily interfered with as is the case with the Quileutes, Renesmee, and the blackness, but Harry has altered it so it is above interference, and you get all the information you can possibly obtain up front, rather than having to piece the picture together yourself. You are still limited to seeing the futures of only those you know, which explains why you can't see Aro's latest acquisition."

"Is it permanent?"

"I should think so, at least as long as Harry keeps it that way."

I looked to Alice, but her expression was unreadable. I said, "Alice, I am so sorry. He shouldn't have done that without your say so."

"No, no, Jason, it's okay. He's just a child after all and besides, I kind of like this."

"You do?"

"Yeah, no more guessing, no more wandering in the dark when certain someones are around. Sure, it takes some of the fun out of it, but it also takes away the headache."

Edward laughed and said, "This is just crazy, to even think such things are possible."

Carlisle added, "Well, I did tell the boy's parents to expect surprises. I guess it goes for the rest of us, too."

After that incident and the one in Carlisle's office, we knew the twins were gifted, but Chloe's wasn't as obvious or as direct as Harry's. I speculated with Carlisle about the possibility that it was similar to my sister's, that maybe she had the ability to manipulate emotions, too. Carlisle again stated that nothing was out of the question when it came to them and that maybe emotion manipulation was only a part of it. After all, she seemed to have almost incapacitated Harry when he got out of control with his ability. I had learned that the object he was using the blackness to get for him was in fact a surgeon's scalpel and that even Leah and Carlisle's combined strength couldn't wrest it from him when he had the blackness on his side. He had seemed totally locked and focused, entranced by what he was doing, and Chloe had pulled him out of it, just like my sister would when the mind fire burnt out of control within me. She had even quelled the blackness itself from inside my own mind when it was apparently having a maniacal episode. That's something I'm not sure even my sister could do. It made me so sad at times to look into my daughter's eyes and see her because I knew my sister would have seen what I saw, perhaps a lot more, and she would have loved her. She would have been proud to be her Auntie, a title she would have absolutely adored. Though I sometimes felt sadness, it could never outweigh the love I felt for Chloe.

As the days and weeks went by, Alice was finding the new quirks of her ability easier to manage. Fiona was a big help in that department as she was used to huge inflows of information and compartmentalising it all away. Alice had almost become a second Fiona only for the fact that she was focused entirely on the future. Yet her visions had become so clear with whole conversations and events playing out in her mind's eye, even sometimes seeing things as though she was looking through the eyes of those she was watching. Nothing had changed with the Volturi. They still lingered just over the border, still waiting for their comrade's signal. Everyone had been out patrolling, including the packs, trying to track down the scent of this spy, but nothing had turned up. Alice had tried desperately to glean more about them from Aro but without much luck. This was clearly not someone we knew. For the time being, there was nothing more we could do, and Edward was watching for the thoughts of anyone he didn't know coming too close. By mid-March, he'd heard nothing but the idle ponderings of stray hikers and passers-by on the highway.

By this time, too, some of our allies had arrived. The Denalis came and told us that they'd had to bypass the entire Washington-Canadian border, as the Volturi were patrolling the whole lot of it. Clearly, they had anticipated them having some foreknowledge of their presence, but they hadn't counted on them taking such an easterly route to get to Forks. Kate and Tanya were quite stunning to behold, but even their beauty was lessened when Leah was near like silverware whose shine had been dulled. Garrett, Kate's mate, was fast friends with Dermot just as he and Emmett had been which only compounded Rosalie's irritation levels. Carmen's manner and appearance reminded me a lot of Esme, and she and Fiona got on well it seemed. Eleazar was the last to arrive in behind Carmen. He greeted Carlisle and Edward first but when I came forward with Leah and the twins, he staggered, coming to a halt, his eyes wide. The twins held on to my legs, and I couldn't say I wasn't the least bit perturbed by this sudden change, but the man seemed to collect himself as Edward asked, "Are you all right?"

"Yes, yes, quite fine, I was just a little overwhelmed for a moment. I was hit by quite a massive presence all at once."

"I think I know what you mean. We talked to you over the phone about Jason's gift."

"Yes, it is nice to make your acquaintance, Jason."

I shook his hand and replied, "Likewise, so I guess you sensed the blackness."

"Is that what you call it? I suppose it is appropriate. It is an ability and a separate entity at the same time. However, it was not just it that I sensed but these," he said, indicating the twins.

Leah stepped forward almost defensively, but the twins seemed only curious. She said, "What do you mean?"

"Their powers are unlike any I have sensed before, much like their father, but still entirely different from him."

I said, "Well that confirms it. Maybe you can enlighten us a little more. We've already got little Harry here figured out, but Chloe is a bit more of a mystery."

"Indeed, well, your son is rather interesting. His gift is not unlike mine, but he can subsequently alter the abilities he detects after he understands them inside and out. He can also hijack them and amplify them if he chooses."

"Well, okay, so we didn't know that last part."

"I sense he could make an ability unfathomably more powerful, but it might be a lot for him, especially at his age."

Leah shot everyone a look and said, "Well, we _won't_ be experimenting."

He smiled briefly and then turned to Chloe and said, "My, my, such power, it'd be almost unsettling to be near her, if she weren't such an angelic child. She'd certainly give any immortal a run for their money."

I interjected, "What power?"

"To put it simply, she can manipulate the thoughts of others, making it possible for her to take control of their minds and actions. There is such inherent goodness in her, though. I doubt she would ever use her power for any ill-intent."

Edward asked incredulously, "Eleazar, are you serious?"

"Perfectly, the scope of her power over others is beyond anything I've seen in any immortal. I sense that her power is limited to one person at a time, however."

Emmett appeared at my side, scooped Chloe up into his huge arms, and said, "This is so cool. My goddaughter is Professor X."

I sighed, Leah eyed him menacingly, and Eleazar just looked confused. He said, "Sorry, I don't understand that reference."

"Come on, man, _X-men_, seriously? Tell me you're not that out of touch." Eleazar just shrugged. Emmett sighed pityingly and said, "You guys really need to get out of Alaska more."

Leah stepped over, quite promptly took Chloe away from her godfather, and said, "Well, why don't you give him some education in geek, Emmett, 'cause it's Professor X's bedtime."

Emmett was very put out as was Chloe, for she never laughed harder or had as much fun with anyone else but him, but Eleazar was right. If what he said about her power was true then she could easily have changed our minds about almost anything, get whatever she wanted, but she never had, at least as far as we knew. I could speculate about that, but that was a vicious circle of paranoia that I wouldn't get into.

Later that evening, Jasper got a brief but desperate call from Peter. He said that just as he and Charlotte were coming into Washington from the south, they were intercepted and chased off by vampires they did not know. There were too many to fight, so they had to run. They dived from some cliffs into the Pacific and swam south as far as the California-Oregon border. They had not been pursued any further, but they were still shaken. Jasper advised them not to try to make the journey again and to wait to hear from him. Peter had no objection to that and hung up. This was more than disturbing. These vampires were not the Volturi, but they were clearly guarding the State's southern border, meaning the only route into the state was from the east, and who knew how long that would stay open. Aro was trying to box us in. That much was clear. Carlisle quickly got in touch with Randall and Mary, advising them not to come.

So it was us, the packs, and the Denalis. Besides that, we were alone. Fiona had tried to get in touch with Siobhan again but to no avail. She just hoped, as did we all, that the eastern border didn't close up before they made their way here. Carlisle, as a last ditch effort, reached out to those of his friends abroad that he could get in contact with by phone or other correspondence, not to encourage them to come, but to see if any of them had any information about what was going on in Volterra, but no joy. He couldn't reach the Egyptians, and Alistair was probably hiding in a hole somewhere so reaching out to him without personally tracking him down was out of the question. Carlisle began to fear the worst for his friends, and a great sense of guilt overcame him.

As the midpoint of the month passed, the weather grew unseasonably and ironically fine. The sun shined brilliantly in a clear blue sky with not even a shred of a cloud in sight. The warmth dried out the dankness of the forest, and every footfall was accompanied by the crunch of dry needles and twigs. We'd kept our eyes and ears open, but nothing had turned up. If there was another vampire in the Forks area, they were well hidden. Either that or they had some gift to keep themselves invisible to us, which wasn't out of the question. I grew more anxious with each passing day as did everyone. Aro just sat idly, still waiting. We couldn't do much besides that either. Some among us wanted to play Aro at his own game, spy on his patrols, or even go so far as a pre-emptive strike, such was the desperation everyone was feeling. Of course, the latter would most likely result in failure, especially with me out of action and the necessity of keeping some of us back to protect Chloe, Harry, and Renesmee, _and_ the Quileute tribes, _and_ our friends and family in Forks, it was just unfeasible. Even the idea of doing some spying ourselves was unilaterally dismissed as at best, we'd be revealing how much we knew about the Volturi's activities and at worst, we'd be giving them hostages.

With the realisation that we were under siege and that if we tried to run, we could be tracked, we had no options but to sit tight and wait for something to change. To certain family members, that was infuriating i.e. Emmett, Dermot, Garrett, and certainly Jacob, but we were all frustrated, and we were all afraid. The last time the Volturi had come here, they had come in the guise of upholding the law in order to make an acquisition, namely Alice but also all those among the Cullens and their allies who were gifted. When they had come to Ireland, they _had_ come to enforce the rule of law, but they did so mercilessly in the case of my sister. Not even the allure of our abilities was enough to stay Aro's hand. This time, their motives were unclear, which only increased the anxiety surrounding the situation. No law had been broken. No newborns ran rampant. Nothing had happened to draw them here at that particular time. At this point, even for me, it was hard to just sit totally helpless and also clueless.

Leah remained as stoic as possible, acting as normal as she could for the sake of the kids, but I already sensed that they were at least affected by the general mood if not understanding what was going on. It was the nineteenth, and I found Leah with the twins out on the garden. She sat on a blanket with her back to me, just watching the two of them at play. They did a lot less tripping by then, but they'd started exploring a lot more. We'd already noticed some superhuman feats after they'd started jumping the river with Renesmee as a game. If either of them wanted to be at the tip-top of a tree, it happened in a few seconds, though we discouraged them emphatically. Harry had taken to picking up rocks that were larger than himself to bring to study on the lawn, and Chloe had developed a fondness for pulling up plants by the roots, even if they were six-foot bushes. Leah worried constantly, but Carlisle's examinations revealed their ability to heal surpassed even the shapeshifters and that feats of strength you wouldn't expect from your average bodybuilder would not overtax their little bodies. Leah didn't care how resilient they were; she had an eye on them every second of every day. As I approached, Leah turned and said, "They're unusually placid today."

I could see what she meant. Chloe was just picking flowers from under a tree near the river, and Harry was collecting pebbles of different shapes and colours. I replied, "I agree, much more normal." I sat down beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders as she leaned into me.

She said, "I really needed some fresh air."

"I don't blame you. It's not just stuffy in the house because of the heat."

"I just worry how it's affecting the twins. Do they sense it? Do they know?"

"I'd say they sense it, but does it bother them?" I shrugged and said, "I think at the moment they're more concerned with the next flower or the next stone."

"I hope you're right." She started to cry.

"Leah? My Leah, what's the matter?"

"Why, Jason? Why now? Why did they have to choose now? Why not a century, or a millennium, or a million goddamn years from now?" Her voice was breaking as she tried to talk through the tears. "We've had so little time. Everything's been so rushed, us, the pregnancy, our time with the kids, and it's already slipping away."

I held her tighter as she hid her face in my neck. I replied, "I don't know, my Leah, I don't know what's going on. All I can say is that we'll try to find our way out of this mess like before, but you know, if it comes to a fight, I don't want you or the twins here. The plan that was in place last time is still valid. Jacob is going to take Renesmee away, and you and the twins are going with them."

"What? Jason, I can't leave you here. Your power is gone. You have nothing more going for you than any of the others in this fight."

"That's not the point. Worst-case scenario and this is leading where we think it is, we're going to lose, and I want the twins to have at least one of us. Besides, we can't expect Jacob to protect them all. Renesmee's his imprint; she'll always be his priority, just like you're mine."

She was trying her best not to cry harder then. "Jason, please, I can't…"

"Please, Leah, I know it's a horrible choice to make, but it's the right one. I think you know that."

She eventually nodded and collected herself. I brushed the hair from her face and the last few stray tears. I was about to tell her that Carlisle had already made arrangements with his associate, Mr. Jenks, to have the necessary paperwork mailed to Forks and that Carlisle had arranged funds in a number of international accounts to be made available for the trip, but the silence stopped me in my tracks. I looked to the river.

The twins weren't there.

A quick sweep of the treetops with our eyes told us they hadn't gone scaling them again. We didn't need to call their names; their little footfalls were audible across the river and a few hundred yards into the forest. Leah changed form and was off before I could even take a step. This was purely out of being stunned, this was the first time she'd changed since before her pregnancy. During it wasn't her choice but afterwards, she simply had no reason to do so, she was always with the twins, never far from the house, but this time, we both sensed something was wrong. We both jumped clean over the river and rushed into the forest without thinking, without alerting anyone. I'd never known such an overwhelming urge to protect another or such intense worry for their safety. My feelings for Leah were that strong, but they came from a place of love. This felt as much about instinct as it did about love. The twins hadn't travelled far, to a small clearing surrounded by cedars with a rocky outcrop at its northernmost point. They stood there, staring at the highest point of the rock face, the only place in the clearing where the light of the noon sun shined directly down, and seated there, shimmering from a million refracted sunbeams, was Sorcha. She smiled wickedly and dropped from her perch to the forest floor. She did not regard the twins in any way; it was as if they weren't even there. Instead, her focus was on me. Leah and I moved up to either side of the twins, less than thirty yards from where Sorcha stood. I knew this was dangerous. We were well within range of one of her heat bubbles. The tense silence only lasted a second. "Well, well, well, if it isn't my long lost cousin, Jason, or should I call you daddy now?"

"Sorcha, what are you doing here?"

"Do I need a reason to visit my cousin?"

"You would, yes. After all, if it was just a visit you were after, you could have stopped by in Kerry instead of running away."

"Oh, she caught that, did she? I was hoping Fiona hadn't established a good enough connection to know that it was me."

"What were you doing then, Sorcha? What are you doing _now_?"

"So many questions, Jason, well, I have a few of my own, like how could you procreate with this mongrel bitch?" Leah snarled in such an animalistic and threatening way that I was surprised that Sorcha didn't so much as flinch. She just asked, "Aren't you not breaking like all the rules of nature here with your little crossbreeding experiment?"

"Enough, Sorcha. Remember what happened last time you pissed me off?" It was a toothless threat, but she didn't know it was a bluff.

"In fact, I do, Jason, which is why I haven't come alone."

I knew from the moment I saw her in her black tights under a long black, hooded cloak closed at the front, but I said it anyway. "It's you. You're the spy. You're Aro's newest lackey."

She grinned and said, "I see Fiona's working overtime, or is it your little pixie fortune-teller who found that out?"

"It doesn't matter. How could you? You must know what they are."

"I know exactly what they are. They are the ancients, the rulers of our world, the enforcers of the law. The fun part is that I get to do the enforcing, and I'm allowed to do it with extreme prejudice. Just ask Carlisle's Egyptian friends."

I was stunned for a moment. This was Carlisle's worst fears confirmed. I asked, "Amun's coven, you killed them?"

"Yes, well, only that stuffy, pompous bastard and his mute companion. The other two weren't in at the time. It was fun, though. Aro wanted me to do it slowly, and who am I to argue with orders?"

"You're seriously being a part of this. Those bastards killed my sister."

"And may she rest in peace, or not, I don't really care to be honest. I never really did. That was your damage, and, well, you fucked it up. I personally found it very amusing when Aro recounted the story to me when we met."

I stepped forward and said, almost growling, "I will end you this time, Sorcha. Make no mistake."

"I don't. Like I said, I'm not alone."

From behind the outcrop, Felix and Alec leapt to its peak before jumping down to the floor of the clearing. I eyed them both as they fell in behind Sorcha. If I had my power, only Alec would pose any threat, assuming I couldn't break free of his grip again. It was unlikely, the rage I had felt at my sister's death was unmatched by anything I'd felt before or since, and that rage was what the blackness ran on. I grew even more uneasy. The newcomers both locked eyes with the twins. They were taking notice, but Sorcha still behaved as if they weren't right there in front of her. Then, she said something just as strange. "So, three on two, and I hear Alec here is as good as kryptonite to you, super-freak. You might be able to stop one of us, even two if you're lucky, but probably not before it's lights out for you."

She was talking like she didn't _know_ they were there. I supposed she could be excused for totally ignoring them as a threat, but even Alec and Felix were eyeing her with slight bewilderment. I glanced down at Chloe and Harry. They were holding hands with a grip so tight that their skin was blanching. Chloe's eyes were that deep hue of blue, almost like looking down into the unfathomable depths of the ocean. She stared at Sorcha without blinking, without moving, it was hard to tell she was breathing. Harry's attention was on Alec, and his pupils had dilated to swamp his irises, something I hadn't noticed before. They were obviously doing something but besides Sorcha's odd lapse, I couldn't discern exactly what.

There was a massive rush of movement from all sides.

Carlisle, Esme, Alice and Fiona fell in with Leah and me. Emmett, Garrett, Dermot, Jasper and Jacob had Sorcha surrounded in close quarters. The others, including Sam's pack, materialised in the trees, beside the outcrop, and Seth came and joined his sister. We had them surrounded with the way they came the only escape route. Sorcha looked irritated but not concerned. Felix was a bit more apprehensive and seemed to be reassessing the situation, but Alec looked just as disdainful as Sorcha. Carlisle stood beside me and addressed her. "I heard most of what was said, so I believe introductions aren't necessary. My only interest is knowing why the Volturi have come here again. We have already proven that Renesmee and her like are not a threat. So, explain yourselves."

Alec, outraged, said, "You dare ask members of the Guard to explain our actions?"

Sorcha shrugged and said, "I wouldn't get your knickers in a twist, Alec. It's not like knowing is going to help them now."

Edward came to my opposite side and said, "It's the twins. They are the latest excuse for punishing us, and making some acquisitions along the way."

Sorcha eyed him, smiled ominously, and said, "Ah, the mind reader, just so you know, Aro asked that when the time comes that I burn you to a cinder. You've become more trouble than you're worth, much like Jason."

Edward sneered and said, "What a pity, though you might find that it won't be me who burns."

"I doubt that, I'm immune to all things fiery."

"Not if your body is broken."

She twitched just slightly at that and replied, "Huh, you see far too much. No wonder Aro wants you gone."

"You're not hard to read. You have a very open and _simple_ mind."

There was some murmuring and a few laughs that Sorcha did not appreciate. She giggled maniacally. Edward had clearly hit a nerve, which was never a good thing when it came to Sorcha. She twitched again as she shifted her position. She brought a hand to the back of her head and said, "Oh dear, now you've gone and upset me. That tends to send my temperature through the roof."

Alec came right up to her and said, "Calm yourself, you fool. You know what Aro said…"

"I know damn well what he said." She snapped. Alec backed off, perilously close to Jacob, but it wasn't him he was worried about. Sorcha locked eyes with me again and said, "You're lucky Aro is looking to acquire some of you 'cause otherwise I would have torched this whole clearing and all of you along with it. No matter, though, I'll settle for thinning out your ranks."

She glanced around to Emmett and Dermot. I knew exactly what she was thinking. They were all far too close. She could burn them all to a crisp before they could move an inch. I could see the shimmer in the air as the heat bubble formed around her. A fraction of a second and it would envelop them all. I was at as much risk as them, so I didn't have a clue what I was going to do, but I had to do something.

Before I could open my mouth, Kate had pre-empted me.

She dropped out of the trees right on top of Sorcha and stunned her with her ability. She was keeping her down, though it looked as though she had gotten a little singed in her assault. Felix and Alec were just about to intercede, but Garrett tackled Alec to the ground. Felix, however, neatly avoided a tackle by Emmett and grasped Kate before swinging her halfway across the clearing into some brush. Sorcha was on her feet again and looked enraged. Her wild eyes locked on us. Meanwhile, Alec had gotten the better of Garrett and a moment later both he and Jacob were on the ground, totally immobilised. It was then I realised that Bella wasn't here. She must have stayed with Renesmee. Dermot was ready to pounce on Felix just a few feet from where Jacob lay, but then he dropped, too. Alec's numbing fog and Sorcha's heat bubble were spreading to encompass us. Those who were furthest out backed off, but everyone who stood with me was trapped. As Emmett fell under Alec's anaesthetic spell, it became clear that Sorcha would get to us first. I stepped forward, hoping to discourage her, but she looked deranged. She didn't know I couldn't protect myself or anyone else, but she didn't seem to care. Her fury was coming my way.

It was then I reached for the blackness.

I tried harder this time than ever before, pulling as hard as I could to wrench it from under its stone but even now with myself and my whole family imperilled, it would not budge. In fact, it responded by marring my thought processes like they were fruit in a blender. The fuzziness was almost crippling, and I stumbled sideways before I could collect myself. I saw into Sorcha's bright red eyes.

She knew.

The wicked smile that crossed her face told me that this was my last moment. I desperately turned, hoping to shield the twins with my body, but the moment lingered and passed, and nothing happened. I opened my eyes. The twins were looking over my shoulders with the same intensity as before, but they seemed more animate then, as though they were ready to act. I looked at Sorcha. The shimmering around her body began to flicker wildly. She stared into her hands as she tried to control it, but her heat bubble just flickered a final time before it evaporated. She then started to screech and growl in frustration. She fell to her knees and started clawing at her face, which is no small thing for a vampire; her fingers were strong enough to tear her own skin. I watched as Harry focused in on Alec. He shuddered as he inhaled sharply. All of a sudden, everyone he had knocked out was on their feet again. He looked around him in complete disbelief as they surrounded him. Sorcha was writhing on the ground by then, clearly undergoing some imagined torture. Felix was facing Emmett and Kate as they closed on him, backed up by the rest of the Denalis and Sam.

Then, I heard a cry of fear. It was Alice.

Jasper was distracted as he turned to look at her bent double as Esme tried to comfort her. Felix took the opportunity while everyone was distracted and grabbed Sorcha, throwing her small twitching form over his shoulder. Alec managed to duck under a swipe from Dermot before leaping over the outcrop followed closely by Felix. Some of them looked ready to pursue, but Alice said, "Wait, don't!"

Everyone froze as the footfalls faded into the distance. Jasper was with her as everyone gathered around her. Carlisle kneeled in front of her and said, "What is it, Alice? What did you see?"

"Aro, the signal has been sent. He's coming."

"When?"

"Tomorrow, at noon. I don't understand."

"What is it?"

"The vision, it was like my old ones, just images with few details."

Harry spoke up and said, "I'm sorry, Auntie Alice. I tried to make it better for you, but I can't make it last forever. I've been trying, but it doesn't work."

Alice smiled weakly and said, "That's okay, so I'm back to normal, little man?"

"Mostly, I think. I can make you see better again, but it'll go away again."

"That's just fine. I'll make-do."

Harry shrugged, seemingly satisfied, but not otherwise concerned. I smiled at my son. Just a few days ago, he might not have been able to explain that. He was so mature for his age in some ways but in others, he was still just a baby, my little boy, and I'd almost let him and his sister come to harm. I swore Sorcha would pay for even threatening to hurt them. Then Chloe said, "I helped, too. I made that mean girl act all silly, so she couldn't hurt us." Leah nuzzled her and she giggled delightedly. She said, "I even made her not see me and Harry."

Carlisle asked, "And how did you manage that, sweetheart?"

"I made her think we weren't there, granddad."

"That is very interesting, very good, Chloe." He ruffled her hair as she continued to laugh in spite of everything that had just happened.

I turned to Harry and said, "Did you do something, too, little man, to Alec?"

He nodded and replied, "Yes, I turned his power off."

"Just like that?"

"It wasn't hard, daddy."

I just shook my head in amazement. Jasper, however, was more concerned with Alice. He said, "What about the vision? Alice, I've never seen you react that way before, even when you first saw the Volturi coming."

She said, "There are still some lingering effects from Harry's boost. I foresaw fear, despair, but it felt like more than one person's. It was overwhelming. I only saw the Volturi coming here, and a few of us, just Edward, Bella, and Renesmee."

Edward had been in my field of view. He had just nodded along with what Alice had said until he shot a glance off into the forest. His eyes went wild for a second as if he was searching for something but then, he shot into the trees as fast as I'd ever seen him go. Jacob suddenly took off, too. I was bewildered for a second until I realised that they were going roughly in the direction of the cottage. I wanted to follow. Clearly, something was very wrong but after everything that had happened, there was no way I was going to leave my family for a second. Everyone became restless.

Then, we all heard it. Edward's desperate voice calling Bella and Renesmee's names as it echoed through the trees.

I could just about make out a crackling, sizzling sound and then I saw the smoke rising above the forest. Then Jacob let out a long, piercing howl and the ears of every shapeshifter pricked up. We could hear footfalls. Edward and Jacob were on the run, off in the direction that Felix and Alec had gone.

There was no time to consider.

Everyone there, minus Leah and the twins, ran to intercept. Edward was easily the fastest out of all of us, and only I, as a newborn, would have any hope of catching up. As it was, the two of them were running straight into our path, so me chasing them solo wasn't going to be an issue. We all got in front and stood in their way. For a second, it seemed as though they would bowl right through us, and they did swerve around Emmett and Kate as they tried to stop them, but Carlisle spoke and Edward came to a stop before him. "Son, what is it? What are you doing?"

Edward looked tortured, in agony, both physical and emotional. Jacob dipped his head and whined mournfully, looking just as tormented. It was then that Edward broke into tears and fell against his father wailing. Esme looked like she would burst into tears herself as she came to comfort her son. Carlisle had an arm around him and said, "Son, it's okay, just tell us what's wrong."

He sobbed and said, "It was a trick, a diversion."

"What was?"

"Sorcha, she was distracting us…from what they were really after."

Carlisle tensed up, he had obviously guessed as had everyone, but he asked anyway, "What do you mean?"

"Bella, Renesmee, they came, they took them. The signal was them burning the cottage to the ground."

So it was, Aro had hostages, and at noon on the equinox, he would be coming to claim the rest of his prize.


	11. Chapter 11: Ensnared

**ENSNARED**

"We have to go after them." Edward implored almost.

Carlisle replied, "You know that's exactly what Aro wants us to do Edward."

"What difference does that make now? If we stay here, he'll come to us and from there on out, it ends the same."

"We may be better able to defend ourselves here, and I might be able to bargain with Aro…"

Carlisle sounded like he was only saying that. He didn't truly believe it. As if to confirm that, Fiona said, "I don't believe you will."

Carlisle was about to speak, but Edward cut across him, asking, "Fiona, do you know? Are they all right?"

"They are alive. That is as much as I can glean. I do not have a strong enough connection with either of them to see more."

"That means nothing. He could be doing anything to them." He looked to Carlisle, "He will hurt them, Renesmee especially, to force us to give him what he wants. He knows we won't be able to stand that. I know his mind, Carlisle."

"As do I, Edward. I know Aro will do anything to break our resolve, to break us apart, but us going on offensive will accomplish nothing now, except getting some of us killed and putting Bella and Renesmee at greater risk. The Volturi have the upper hand, and they know it. The best we can do now is to make them confront us on our terms."

"I can't do it. I can't just wait for them to come. I can't leave them with him."

"I'm sorry, son, but we must for the moment. However, in order to guarantee their safety, I will give anything, including my life, and everyone else here can say the same. We _will_ get them back, at any cost."

Edward nodded but reluctantly, his expression still looked tortured as he walked off towards the house. Jacob remained in wolf form but looked just as dejected, his head hanging low as he issued a few more whines. Carlisle asked him to gather the packs at the house if he wouldn't mind, but he barely acknowledged it. My own mind was racing. Aro had wormed his way back into my life and as great a loss as my sister's death was, I had more to lose this time around. Edward had seen his thoughts through Sorcha. The twins, my children, were his latest excuse to visit the Cullens with ill intent. If he was going to make a show of upholding the law or protecting vampire-kind, then he would come after them. I turned on my heel and raced back to the house, passing the clearing as I went. Leah and the twins weren't there. I could smell them, though, heading back towards the house. I kept running until I made my way inside. Leah sat with the twins in the living area, trying to distract them. She had gotten dressed again in dark jeans and a black fitted t-shirt. She stood as I came in, looking into my eyes.

She knew what came next.

Esme and Fiona were the first to arrive back after me. I looked over at them meaningfully and then at the twins. Esme's soft features were troubled, and this seemed to bring her even more sadness, but she made sure not to let the twins see it. She and Fiona came over to them and Esme said, "Now, you two, you've had a busy day. It's time for lunch, come on."

Chloe asked, "Can I have eggs?"

"Of course you can, sweetheart."

The two of them toddled off with Esme contently as if nothing had happened. When they were out of sight, Leah and I fell into each other's arms. She started to cry as quietly as she could. I held her tight to me and noticed she didn't feel nearly as warm as usual. She even looked pale. I stepped back and held her face in my hands as she put hers on top of mine. She closed her eyes, head dipped. She didn't want this to be real, but time was of the essence. I said, "Leah, we have to do this."

"No, I can't. It's too quick, it's…Jason…" Her expression was pleading, but I had to hold my resolve, even though inside I was crumbling.

"I'm sorry, Leah. There isn't a choice, and I don't think there's much time. The details are already sorted. It's just a matter of going."

"Come with us, Jason."

"What?"

"You being here or not makes no difference, not without your power, and Jacob won't be leaving now. Please, I don't want to lose you. I don't want to do this alone."

I didn't know what to say. I hadn't looked at it like that before. I guessed there was nothing really stopping me. I _could_ just run off with them. Would anyone here really question it? I knew if that were my choice then none of them would stop me. Leah was right. There really was no reason for me to stay when I couldn't bring anything to the fight that the others couldn't. I would be staying to die and without my ability or Bella's to protect us, it would be over quickly. Something in me, though, couldn't just abandon everyone, just skitter away in their darkest hour when they needed me most. They'd already done so much for me, been so kind and more family than I'd ever known. How could I desert them?

"Simple, you're not." Edward was right behind us, standing in the doorway. He still looked disconsolate, but he was regarding me intently. He continued, "Go, now, quickly. You're right. There isn't much time."

"But Edward I…"

"I know, Jason, and believe me, I appreciate your wanting to stay and fight with us, but Leah's right. Ultimately, it'll make little difference."

"My ability might come back if I really need it to."

"Yes, it might, but there's no point gambling your life or your family's on that hope. Jacob isn't going now, obviously, so do you really want Leah to be alone?"

"…No. No, I don't."

"And remember, Jason, it's me telling you to do this. It's a mad hope that having you here might help in some way, that your ability might return in the nick of time, that you could save my wife and daughter." His voice broke with the last sentence, and I felt so incredibly sorry for him. I knew I'd be no better if it were Leah and the twins in Aro's hands right then. He inhaled and said, "I thought about it, you know. I almost came to you with the notion of begging you to stay, but I couldn't do that, couldn't ask that of you. I wouldn't want it asked of me to choose if our roles were reversed." He walked towards me, shook my hand, and said, "We haven't known each other long, but just know I consider you a brother. Good luck, Jason."

He turned and walked back out into the trees. I stood there stock-still for a few seconds, the emotional turmoil threatening to overflow. Then Leah took my hand and held it tightly in hers. I allowed myself to breathe as she stroked her hand along my cheek as if wiping away the imaginary tears. Esme and Fiona were standing in the door of the kitchen. Esme said, "Grab what you need. We'll get the twins ready."

It was even harder to look at Esme right then. She was trying to be strong because she knew she had to protect us and that we had to go. Still, I could see the overwhelming sorrow in her eyes that I couldn't look at for very long. Leah and I ran upstairs. Alice was already there at my door with four travel bags packed and ready to go. They were all small, and I could see a lot of my more extraneous possessions were still in the room. "Everything that matters is here. Get to the garage. They're waiting." She drew us both into a hug before disappearing downstairs.

They were all there. Carlisle held Esme in his arms, as did Jasper with Alice. Emmett stood at the driver's side door of one of the range rovers with Rosalie at his side. I tried my best to smile at the big guy who'd possibly been the kindest and most supportive of all the family, but I couldn't even get my lips to twitch in that direction. I knew he understood, he wasn't making any pretence at making as if it would all be okay either. Dermot and Fiona were already in the range rover I noticed, as were the twins, the two of them belted in and staring out the window curiously. I managed to smile for them, but it did not change their expressions. The last thing I wanted was for them to realise what was happening, but I supposed it was already too late for that. Carlisle came forward as Edward and Jacob came in the main door of the garage with Seth. Leah immediately went to her brother and embraced him. I turned and found myself in Esme's arms. I hugged her back as Carlisle said, "We'll hold them up for as long as we can. Fiona and Dermot will help you two keep the twins safe, and we can't let her fall into Aro's hands."

"I know." Esme pulled away, smiled weakly, and went to join Alice and Rosalie who tried to comfort her.

Carlisle added, "I've given Dermot directions to an airfield in Montana. Mr. Andrews will be picking you up again. I've already wired his payment to him, and there's enough money in the rover to see you through for the foreseeable future."

"Where are we going?"

"Anywhere but here, or Ireland I'm afraid. Undoubtedly, your cousin Sorcha has told Aro everything about you and Fiona. Neither of you are safe there anymore. Just find somewhere out of the way."

"We will. Carlisle, thank you, for everything."

He nodded, obviously finding the situation really hard and said, "Be safe, Jason."

He joined Edward at the door. Esme hugged me again before joining him. Leah still hadn't let go of her brother. Alice and Jasper both nodded to me as they walked by me. I knew it wasn't a slight. None of them wanted to face what was really happening, that we were saying goodbye forever and that many of them might not see another day. Emmett wanted this least of all, but he wasn't just going to wave me off. As I approached, Rosalie gave me a grim smile and said, "Good luck, Jason."

"Thanks Rosalie."

She headed after the others. Emmett stood in front of the rover with his arms folded as if he wasn't going to let me get in. I said, "Hey, big guy, wish you were coming with us. Your presence alone really inspires confidence."

"It's too bad you won't be round to see me wipe the floor with some Guard members."

"That I'll hate to miss."

"You know, man, I've only known you for less than a year whereas I've been with the others for decades. Still, this really isn't easy for me. I wish I could go with you. It kills me not to be there to look out for you and my goddaughter, but Edward's my brother, too, Jason, and after all we've been through, I owe him my help. I love Bella and Renesmee. The idea that someone might be hurting them right now is killing me, but at least I'm going into this knowing you guys are safe. That'll give me a lot of peace, for as long as I've got."

"Thanks, Emmett, give those bastards hell."

"I will. Promise me you'll take care of yourself and your family."

"You've got it."

He drew me into one of his bear hugs just as a tiny voice said from inside the rover, "Uncle Emmett?"

Emmett turned to see Chloe popping her head out of the rear passenger window, which she'd managed to roll down. He kneeled down, gave her his biggest goofy smile, and said, "And what can I do for you, little Miss Chloe?"

"Can we play hide and seek again when I come home?"

"Hide and seek? You mean the kind where I'm searching for hours because you make me think you're not there when I find you."

She giggled in her sweet way and replied, "But it's funny."

He said as lightly squeezed her little cheek, "Yes, it is, you cheeky rascal. It's a promise, sweetie."

"Okay, I promise to play fair."

"No, you won't."

"No!" She giggled again as Emmett stood. He squeezed my shoulder as he walked past, looking at the ground with no hint of a smile anymore. I knew it had gotten too much for him. Rosalie drew him into a hug as he walked over. Leah had finally let go of her brother. They were both sobbing. Seth waved at Harry who had stuck his head out the other window before he went wolf and disappeared into the forest. Leah came over to me, and I put my arm around her shoulders. She got in the back between the twins, and I took the second passenger seat in the front beside Fiona. Dermot turned on the ignition and waved goodbye to Emmett who just about managed a nod as Rosalie still comforted him. Everyone else waved us off. When we were out of sight, I cried to myself silently.

Carlisle had chosen an airstrip in Montana for one reason only; Washington's eastern border was the only one we knew to still be open. The drive was going to take hours. Dermot left the Forks area as casually and slowly as possible, in case anyone was watching but as soon as we hit the highway, he bombed it down the lanes like a bat out of hell. According to what Carlisle had told him, our destination was just inside the border, but we still had to cross through all of Washington and a bit of Idaho before we got there. After four hours' driving at a near-reckless speed, we'd long ago bypassed the Seattle area, and we were into the more rugged and wild terrain of the more central parts of the state. We weren't far from a place called Ellensburg. By then, we were heading into the evening hours and the sun was low on the horizon. I expected the twins to at least be restless, but both of them just stared out the windows, totally absorbed by what to me was an almost unchanging scene. We decided we'd stop in the town when we got there. We'd grab some refreshments for Leah and the kids, refill the tank, and keep on down the I-90 until we reached the turn-off for the airstrip.

There wasn't a chance we'd be stopping tonight. Personally, I wouldn't relax until we were in the air. Unless Aro had found a vampire with the gift of flight, we'd at least be guaranteed safe then.

We had just passed by another sign for Ellensburg when something caught my notice. The rover's engine was throwing up a lot of interference, but I could still perceive sounds outside the vehicle. I could vaguely hear animal sounds, the rustling of leaves in the evening breeze but more distinct than that was the thudding sound of footfalls, lots of them. Fiona and Dermot could hear them, too. Leah turned around in her seat. She gasped but for the kid's sake, she said, "Jason, can you see behind?"

I turned and in the low light of evening, I could see the dark forms chasing behind us and gaining. I said, "Dermot, drive faster."

"Not a problem."

He hit the accelerator, and we lurched forward, increasing the gap between us and our pursuers. They sped up, though, and kept pace. There was nothing more we could do. We couldn't lose them on the highway and if we turned off onto another road, we'd have to slow down. Aro was getting very bold. It was a quiet evening, but anyone driving this road would be hard-pressed to miss all the dark-clothed figures racing down the highway at an impossible speed. This only made everyone more anxious. We kept going, but they had us in their sights, leaving us with little hope of losing them. Leah leaned forward and said, "How did they catch up with us? How did they even know we'd left?"

Fiona replied, "It is a mystery. We knew they had us blockaded from the north and the south. We came east because the Denalis had safely come this way."

Dermot said, "Unless they've been tightening the noose on us the whole time, cutting off every escape route."

I replied, "Then they just happened to see us pass, damn it."

Dermot said, "How many are there, Leah?"

"…Five chasing us, as far as I can see."

"What do you think, Jason?"

"I think there's no other way."

Leah asked, alarmed, "Jason, what are you thinking?"

"I'm sorry, Leah, but we have to get them off our tail."

Dermot said, "Auntie, I need you to take the wheel."

I put my hand on the door handle whilst Dermot manoeuvred himself into the back under the sunroof. Leah put her hand on my shoulder and squeezed sharply. She said, "Jason, you can't do this. We were supposed to get away together."

"I'm sorry, Leah, but you and kids are my priority. We can stay ahead of them all the way to Montana probably, but they'll never let us get on that plane when we stop. I need to get you clear, and then we'll catch up."

"Then let me help. Three on five is better than just two."

"No, Leah, you have to stay here with the twins. I know they'd be safe with Fiona but like I said before, one of us have to be with them, always."

"I know."

Fiona said, "Jason, I can help. Leah could drive on to the airstrip."

"No, Fiona, I can't take the chance. I don't want Leah left alone."

Dermot said, "Jason, you ready?"

"Ready."

"Okay, on three."

Dermot counted down. I said, "See you soon, my Leah."

Just as I tumbled out of the car, I swore I heard the kids calling after me. This was exactly what I didn't want to put them through, but there was no choice. I wasn't going to let anyone hurt them, no matter what the cost. I only took a few tumbles before my vampire reflexes had me on my feet again. Dermot had launched himself through the sunroof into a long arc before crashing straight into the lead three vampires. I charged a female vampire who was flanking the group. She'd been distracted by Dermot's daredevil jump so she had barely seen me before my hands grasped her neck and decapitated her. I cast her head into the woods. Dermot had immediately stood on the throat of the lead vampire, severing his head, but the others were quickly getting the upper hand on him. I launched myself at one of his attackers and drove their face into the tarmac. I grabbed the guy by his long mane of hair and kept smacking his face into the road until I heard several satisfying cracks as his skull fell to pieces. Dermot had meanwhile sharply high kicked his other attacker, which wrenched his neck around far enough that he only had to deliver a punch to sever it. The last one tried to run, but he was no match for my newborn speed. I raced in front of him and got him into a headlock at which point Dermot charged and punched his face while running, decapitating him cleanly. He produced a lighter then and set fire to all the remains. He said, "Something's off."

"What?"

"Well, these guys are Guard members. It's not like I've fought any personally but from what I've heard, they're supposed to be the elite of the elite. I jumped out of the rover fully expecting to dive to my death, but this, this was…"

"Easy, too easy."

We both heard it then, the screech of a car braking hard up ahead.

We didn't speak, we just ran. The fight had been over in minutes, they couldn't have gotten too far ahead of us. I thought I could hear voices as we ran, cries, _kid's_ cries. I pushed myself as fast as my legs could carry me. As we rounded the nearest bend, I saw it, the rover, sitting still in the middle of the road with all the doors wide open. As I drew nearer, I saw that the driver's side window had been smashed in. I stood at the side of the rover, looked around desperately, there was no sign of anyone. I couldn't hear a thing that could be them. I put my hands to my head. How had I let this happen? This must have been what they planned all along. Even if Dermot and I hadn't attacked those vampires, they would have been waiting up ahead regardless. This must have worked more to their advantage for they split us up with fewer of us to contend with. "Damn it!" I shouted. I turned to Dermot. "We need to fan out, man, maybe we can…"

He wasn't there. He had been on the other side of the rover to me. I came around it and found him lying flat on the ground, face down. I was about to go help him when I sensed it, a presence behind me. I swung around, arm extended, ready to grasp them by the throat. As soon as I had done so, I crumpled to ground, my knees giving way. Pain searing through my body, erupting in my skull, crawling over my skin as though I was on fire without flames inside and out. I managed to squint at whoever had been behind me.

_Jane!_

She regarded me disinterestedly and said to someone outside my view, "Put the others back in the vehicle. We'll need to get them back quickly. Alec, why don't you sedate this one? I think it's time we brought them home."

There was nothing for a long time. At least it felt long. I had no real way of telling. Under Alec's spell, I hadn't the slightest clue as to my whereabouts, what was happening, or who was with me. I didn't even know if I was in one piece or several. I didn't know if the twins or Leah were there with me or a thousand miles away. All I knew was that I was alive and from what Jane had said, maybe my family were, too. I was terrified for them. Could Aro be hurting them even as I lay there inert? Even a glimpse of them would have reassured me at that moment, at least temporarily. In the time I was waiting, trapped within my own body, I began to feel a real sensation of claustrophobia, entombed in this nothingness. I even felt that someone was in here with me, watching me, but surely that was paranoia.

Until I saw it, the blackness against the dark. That point so much darker than anything Alec could induce.

It grew and spread until I could no longer perceive the featureless shell that Alec had entrapped me in. Then I got that feeling, like I had just opened my eyes. The scene was the same, the snowfield, the distant forest, the mountain range, the perceptible curve of the landscape and that endless sky. The only difference seemed to be that it was dawn, not dusk as I watched the sun rise over seamless snow. Fionn stood fully formed right before me, no tricks of light and shadow and I hoped no maniacal behaviour. I certainly wasn't in the mood for that right then. I regarded him coolly and took on a slightly defensive posture, even though I knew none of this was real and that there were far greater threats outside my head. Fionn looked totally unperturbed. He walked up to me calmly until there was but a foot between us and said, "There are things you should see."

For the first time in months, I felt my connection with the blackness again. It was purely the sensory side, and I wasn't in control of it, but it was almost relief to have some semblance of it back, as if my peculiar blindness had been cured. The bubbled extended slowly. I was aware first of myself, of the position of my body. I was on my knees, hunched over with my arms extended outward and upward. Two sets of hands grasped my wrists. They were large men, no one I could recognise using just my ability, but they were undoubtedly the Guard's muscle. Two more stood behind me, a smallish girl and a boy not much bigger. I didn't need my eyes to confirm who they were. Jane and Alec were obviously keeping a close eye on me. The bubble extended. There were trees directly behind me and open ground in front. Then I sensed other shapes further out, people that I recognised from the memory of sensing them before. Esme, Carlisle, and Jasper were nearest and the others weren't much further out. I sensed Emmett and Rosalie close together. The other vampires I sensed kneeling must have been the Denalis while others could have been the Quileutes in human form. Standing all around them were other hulking guard members. I couldn't find Edward or Alice at first, but the bubble spread out across another open space in front of Carlisle and the others until I reached two more kneeling forms, Alice and Edward. They were being held down by Felix I guessed. Standing in front of them was Aro and Caius and just behind them and off to the side, I could sense Bella and Renesmee, and _Sorcha_.

Fionn drew my attention back to him and said, "Listen."

I nodded. I remembered how to use the sensory side of my ability to detect sound waves and convert them into something my brain could interpret without using my ears. Aro's voice echoed in my head. He said, "Now, Alice, surely you do not wish to see your coven mates in further pain. Consent to joining us."

"Go to hell."

"Dearie me, such disloyalty and brazenness, those are things we'll have to work on in the coming centuries, my dear. And what of you, Edward, will you honestly allow your own mate and daughter to endure further anguish? It can all be over, you just have to say those words."

"I thought you wanted me burnt to a cinder, you know, more trouble than I'm worth and all that."

"Well, it is true I said that, but the question really is will your resolve hold long enough for you to watch your whole family _burn_. I'd be lying if I said I could easily part with ones such as dear Bella and Renesmee. It would be such a shame to have to dispatch them but if you force my hand, you really only have yourself to blame."

"I won't join the Volturi."

"Oh, but you will, because after I eliminate your daughter, your mate, your coven, your friends, even your little pets over there, you really will have nothing left, but us. Sorcha, if you please."

Sorcha placed her hand on Renesmee's back, and she screamed viscerally as a sizzle issued from her skin. Edward screamed and tried to get to his feet, but Felix shoved him right back down. He tried to struggle, but he suddenly jolted forward and wailed in agony. Jane's head had turned to regard him for a moment, but then she turned to look at the Quileutes. Jacob I presumed had also tried to stand, maybe even go wolf, but Jane crippled him until he fell flat, twitching from the residual pain. Edward trembled as Sorcha withdrew her hand and Renesmee cried in agony. Bella tried to reach out to her daughter, but Sorcha kicked her hand away. Aro turned to Edward again and said, "Renesmee's skin is more resilient to second degree burns than a human's, she will heal. Your mate on the other hand is a bit more…_flammable_. If Sorcha puts her hand to her, she will erupt in flame, and she will be lost to you forever. Your daughter will be motherless. It doesn't have to be that way, Edward. Agree to come with us. I will spare them, and we can all go to Volterra together. They will be safe, happy, and treasured for their uniqueness. What more could you want?"

Edward started to cry as he looked at his daughter who still was sobbing from the pain. Bella was clearly distressed as well, but she did not know what she could say, I was sure. It was an awful choice for their daughter, die or live forever as prisoners. Carlisle then stood and said, "Enough, Aro, enough of this vileness."

A Guard member was about to go subdue him, but Aro raised a hand and said, "Let him speak."

"We did what you asked, Aro. We came to this spot. We have even kneeled before you. All this, and we have once again broken no laws."

"So you say, but you have welcomed the outlaw, Jason, into your coven with open arms, knowing full well he created Immortal Children, let newborns run rampant in his homeland, and even attacked _us_ when we tried to intervene."

"He deceived you, Aro, to protect the identity and involvement of others. The Genoan Coven were the real culprits behind the incident in Ireland. If Sorcha has told you anything, she'll have told you that."

Aro looked to her and she said, "They lie, Aro. You know I spoke the truth."

"Yes, you did, my dear, and it's not as though you could have deceived me anyhow. The charges against him still stand. Along with this, you have allowed him to procreate with these shapeshifting miscreants. This perturbation of vampiric purity can no longer be tolerated. I will not have this world filled with half-breeds. To do so would unveil us just as surely as if we hunted in daylight."

Aro was reaching and if he had truly examined Sorcha's memories, he would have seen what my true involvement was. He would have also seen Fiona. I hadn't thought to look for her, but the bubble had not extended any further. I wondered why I hadn't sensed Leah or the twins. Had they maybe escaped? Carlisle said, "You lie, Aro."

Caius almost leapt forward and said, "How dare you."

"It's the truth, a term the Volturi seem to use very loosely of late. Jason's is not a criminal, he is simply a victim of bad fortune, and had you treated him and his sister differently, there would have been no attack. You know all this, Aro. You know as well that the twins are no more a threat to our kind than Renesmee. They are simply an excuse you've used to get what you want."

"My, Carlisle, such a wicked tongue, I will be glad to relieve you of it in due course. However, for the moment, it would seem that even harming those you proclaim to care for has had little effect on dear Alice and Edward here. Perhaps new subjects are in order. Bring them."

Fionn drew me back into my own mind. I asked, "What are you doing?"

"I've made you aware of your predicament without, now it is time we deal with the issue within."

"What issue?"

"Us, and our respective positions."

"I don't understand."

"You still perceive me as some conscious manifestation of your ability when I am so much more. I am a separate mind, Jason, a separate persona. I have existed all your life, grown as you've grown, learned as you've learned. You were born with me, Jason. Your ability is unique in its power, so much so that it's beyond your conscious mind to handle, hence why I came to be. Otherwise, you would probably have lived your life as a mental case. It would have driven your child mind insane, having to be aware of it, and trying not to use it inappropriately. It would have been akin to having to consciously tell every cell in your body what it has to do. I filter all of that. I am the one really pulling the strings when you want something done. Yet, despite all this, you are dominant. You are in control of this body. What is with that?"

"You overestimate yourself. You _are_ a manifestation of my ability. You just said I need you to manage it. Outside of that, you have no purpose."

"I exist, I do not need a purpose to be, and I am so much better than you. You are weak and sentimental. If I had been in control, I would have burned the Volturi into the ground by now."

"And _I_ would have done that already had you allowed it."

"Please, you could never do what it takes. You couldn't save your sister, though the power was there, you just couldn't handle it."

"That's a lie."

"You almost lost your girlfriend, too, because you didn't have the guts to kill off those parasites she popped out."

"But you did that. You stopped me."

"Your conscience stopped you. That's why I've been holed up in my "recess" as you call it. I certainly had no qualms about what you were doing."

"But Edward sensed you stopping me every time I tried to use my ability."

"Not me, that was all you because deep down, you don't trust yourself, not after that awful, awful decision you made. That's how fucked up you are, you were subconsciously using me to stop you using your ability. That's why Edward sensed it each time as an automated response. You're just not that creative."

"But you just let me use my ability."

"No, you allowed yourself, through me once again, I might add. You're just that desperate to know if you're precious little family is okay that it overrode your guilt."

"If this is all true, then why? Why have helped me all this time? Why have you warned me of coming danger?"

"Because I don't want to die any more than you do. I'm a passenger on this ship, but I'm sure as hell not going to contently go down with it."

"So all this time you've been looking out for yourself, not me, not anyone I care about?

"The fact that you had to ask that just proves how pathetic you are."

"You know, maybe I am because I believed you were benign, I believed you were a guardian, I even believed you were some vestige of my long lost friend that I was carrying with me. Now, I'm disgusted to even look at you. You don't deserve to take that form."

"Oh no? Then maybe your other good friend Danny is a better choice." The blackness transformed in to my old nemesis in a split second. "Or perhaps you'd prefer your dead brother who you could never quite measure up to, or perhaps Sophia, the woman who took your whole family away from you. Not good enough? Then maybe your dear old momma then." I felt a chill, even though I knew it wasn't really her. "She felt about you much as I do, a revolting parasite that she shoved out of herself, only difference is I haven't managed to expunge you, _yet_." I stared at it in utter loathing. I didn't care how I was going to do it, I would find a way to put it in its place and regain control. If I really had been punishing myself then it was within my power to stop. "Well, come on, Jason. You can't exactly hide your thoughts from me, you know. You wanted the face of an enemy, so fight me."

"Not on your terms, but seeing as we're being so upfront with each other without the usual riddles and such crap, I'll tell you this, when I get back out into the real world, I am going to crush you back into some dark hole in my mind that'll make your recess seem like a haven of havens."

"Hmm, promises, promises, too bad you probably won't get a chance to make good on them. I think you're about to get a dose of the insanity my existence spared you from."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, behold, Aro's marching your mongrel family to the gallows. Time for you to say your goodbyes."

The sensory bubble had re-expanded to encompass Aro and the front lines of the Guard. Alice and Edward had been put back with the others. First came Fiona and Dermot. They were marched into the group with the Cullens and made to kneel just like all the others. I was surprised by how little interest Aro showed in Fiona. It made sense, though. Fiona was all about the truth and dispelling lies when Aro was nothing but lies. Her ability might have been similar, but she was nothing like him. She would never be made to serve him. Then, a tall form and two smaller were marched forward by Sorcha. She got on her knees voluntarily and the two smaller forms grabbed hold of her as she put her arms around them.

_Leah, Chloe, Harry…No!_

Aro said, "An example will be made of these so this monstrosity is never _ever_ repeated and that all of you may know my resolve. Sorcha, _begin_."

_NO!_

The blackness said, "Watch as it all ends, Jason, knowing this is where I begin."

Flames lit in both of Sorcha's hands as she stared down menacingly at my family. She lifted her arms to strike. Emmett and Seth both shouted out. The others gasped in horror. Chloe called for me just as an inferno came forth, just like in the vision.


	12. Chapter 12: Intervention

**INTERVENTION**

A blazing white light spread around them as Sorcha turned the temperature up as high as she could go. With such intensity, it would be over in an instant, but the moment seemed to drag for eternity. As their shapes were lost in the glare of the superheated air, I wished death would come for me next. What cruel fate would take my sister, my only family, then give me a new one, give me a woman I could have loved forever and children I would have cherished for just as long and then steal it all away from me, again? I was feeling a numbness that had nothing to do with Alec's anaesthesia. Nothing mattered right then. I would happily follow my family into oblivion, made into dust, forever torn from this brutal world in the hope that the next one might be kinder, and that maybe I'd be with them there. I was barely aware of the blackness in the form of my mother gloating over me, as my imagined form seemed to shrink in on itself. Maybe it was right. Maybe I was going to lose my mind, disappear even. I hoped that even if my body lived on that this would be a sort of death. My imagined body was losing its coherence, becoming translucent as it waved in and out of reality. I sank to my knees and closed my eyes, hoping this wouldn't take much longer.

It was in that moment that I sensed it, my connection to the blackness. Only it wasn't just a sensory bubble, I sensed a physical force being exerted.

I opened my mind to it tentatively, as if this chance at control might fly away from me if I wasn't careful. After everything that had just transpired, I didn't know at the time why I even cared about this, but I needed to know for some reason. It was then I saw what was happening. Within the sensory bubble, a second one had formed, much, much smaller, but it was a physical barrier. It took a moment for the significance of that to sink in and then I was overwhelmed with joy and relief.

The barrier was surrounding Leah and the twins.

Sorcha pummelled away at it gleefully for about thirty seconds, completely unaware that she was wasting her time. The surrounding leaf litter had caught fire, and flames whipped around the barrier. They'd die down in short order and then the Volturi would realise what was going on. They'd know I was aware of the situation and able to intervene. The barrier protecting my family was obviously another case of my utter desperation to save them overriding my guilty conscience. I had to assume full control right then because I would surely be killed or at least dismantled when Aro saw my family unscathed after the inferno Sorcha had unleashed on them. I made an effort to tweak the barrier to allow only air and not smoke through as, although they were all quite resilient, my Leah and my kids could still suffocate. The tweak was tiny and it was for their good. That was enough to force it through. It had worked. I had influenced the physical aspect of my ability.

With that much done, it was then a matter of up-scaling.

I stood up, my knees having left no imprint in the snow. My form in this imagined place became solid once again. I looked it in the eyes. I saw odium there, all of it for me, but I also saw fear. It was then it all clicked together. "You really are nothing more than a quirk of my ability. I don't actually even need you."

"Hmm, getting desperate, are we? Wishful thinking and all that."

"Quite the opposite actually." I took control of the sensory bubble and forced it out to a mile. I wanted to see the true scale of the threat to my family. There was the full guard present and perhaps one hundred other vampires. Aro had once brought witnesses to Forks but on this day, I saw mercenaries and a hell of a lot of them. Even at full strength, I wondered was this beyond my limits. It was clearly aware of my growing influence and control. Yet I sensed no resistance, because it _couldn't_ stop me. Only I could do that, and only I could take back control. It must have caught that thought. It said, "You really believe that, don't you? Perhaps you've gone crazy already."

"Well, if I'm wrong, then stop me. I'm manipulating the sensory bubble as we speak. Even stop me doing that…Well?" It did not respond, only scowled at me with my mother's face. "You can't, can you, and do you know why? It's because you as an entity only have the power that I allow you to have. Even sending me the visions is only within your power because I want to see them."

"Oh really? Remember what I did to you last time you were here? I could have crushed you then if it wasn't for your little girl coming to your rescue."

"You could only do that because I was weakened and ridden with guilt. You took advantage of an opportunity I gave you."

"Oh yeah? Well then, it seems I'll have to help you on your way to hell." It tried to lash out at me, a hand reaching straight for my face, but I caught it by the wrist and held it at bay. Another hand came up to grab at my head, but I held them both off. I then shoved it back, and we circled each other. It said, "I may not be able to stop you using your ability in the real world, but I can fight you here and that delay will cost you."

"And you as well, when they find out I'm aware, they'll destroy me, and if I go, you go."

"Better to be dead than to be subservient to you for eternity. If that is my destiny then I would rather die and take you and everything you love with me."

"It won't come to that. I can fight you back."

"But you can never beat me, not fully. I will always be with you, Jason."

"I know that, but that doesn't mean you have to be part of me."

"What?"

"You serve no purpose. You are an aberrant personality inside _my_ mind, and I choose to end you in the only way I can."

"You can't do anything of the sort."

"Oh, but I can. I intend to bury you so deep inside my head that you will never crawl back out to bother me again. You can fight me all you want. In the end, it won't matter because only _my_ will matters."

"No, you can't do this to me. You'd be dead by now without me."

"And I am oh so grateful. Goodbye, old _friend_."

I charged forward through its guttural cries of defiance and fear and pleading. My hand latched around its neck. Immediately, the image of my mother dissolved into a semi-coherent humanoid form made of billowing blackness. Facial features emerged, contorted, and dissipated with every rebellious howl that began to take on an animalistic edge as the form was slowly whittled down by an imperceptible wind. Streamers of blackness tore away from its arms, back, and legs in the direction of the distant mountains. Then, the whole scene began to ripple and disappear like a mirage as you drew closer. Holes began to appear, and I could see out to the blank shell that was Alec's cage for me. The form totally lost its shape and became a black cloud that was being shredded by the gale that was my will. I wasn't aware of what I was doing exactly, but this felt appropriate somehow. The whole scene broke down then until the blackness fell off into the distance as the mountains themselves retreated into nothingness.

_Is it gone? Am I free? _

Not quite, it was still there, somewhere in deepest depths of my subconscious, but there I could no longer see it in my mind's eye, or hear it, only just barely feel it. I could just about glimpse its rage, and its terror, but it was like watching someone try to shout at you from the bottom of a pool. I had done it. I had assumed control, _total_ control. I would no longer have to share my mind or my ability with that monstrous psychopath. I had locked it away, and I held the key.

All of that would be rendered meaningless, though, if I did not act in the real world.

The flames died down to embers. To my relief, Leah and the twins were still sitting there, no worse for wear. The three of them looked stunned as did all the others, but Aro was not to be distracted. His gaze fell on me. Several guard members tried to reach for my family, but they were rewarded with burning hands as I turned up the heat around the protective bubble. My limbs started to tremble, nerve signals shooting down them, cutting through the immobilising numbness. Aro grimaced with irritation, yet he had not ordered my destruction. I doubted he was still holding on to some insane notion of having me join the Volturi, of possessing my power. I felt it then, the anger sweep in for everything he had done to me. Taking my sister, trying to take my family, trying to destroy me. I felt the mind fire burning like nothing I had felt before, even after my sister had died. I tried so hard that day to free myself of Alec, to save her. Yet for all my effort, I failed, and, ironically, it was that which brought forth the full scope of my ability. So perhaps the blackness was right in a sense, the power had been there, it was just out of my reach until true fury had fuelled it.

Not so, anymore.

For sure, I was enraged beyond any reason, but that anger had become an aid rather than a necessity. The power I had was all within my reach, and not as impossibly hard to control as the blackness had said. This change was so much more than what Siobhan had done for me; this was total, unmitigated access. I could only guess that it was the absence of the blackness, as an entity, that had caused this. Perhaps it had always interfered, always sought to wrest control from me, lurking in the background like some snake awaiting its opportunity to strike. It had said itself that it could and would fight me in the realms of my mind, but it had made its play, and it had lost. Aro's grimace had become a deadpan expression. He was watching history repeat itself. I was overcoming the Witch Twins, only this time I hadn't needed someone I cared about to die to spur me on and maybe this time, he wouldn't escape the fire I would unleash.

He said lowly, "Jane, subdue him."

The blackness roiled within my head, but it wasn't a wild force bashing randomly at the inside of my skull, trying to break out. This time, I could focus all that raw energy at a single point in Alec's cage and just like that, a bar would snap. In that moment, my vision would briefly return. I saw a cloudy sky above me, but it was daylight. I caught sight of Edward, watching me from the huddle on the ground. I regarded him with an intent expression.

_I'm going to save them, _all_ of them._

He nodded but just in that moment, pain shot through my head like the strike of a flaming lance. Jane had found my escape route and forced me back in. Alec resealed the hole behind me. She nodded to Aro, a little prematurely I thought. Aro then turned to my family and said, "Jane, let us see if Jason's protective barrier is immune to your gift, shall we?"

She smiled hideously and a moment later, Leah cried out in pain. She choked herself off for the sake of the kids, but her body was rigid as she fell against the barrier…or didn't, it was no longer there. As she lay flat on the ground, the twins started to cry. They were terrified, I could tell. I hadn't chosen to turn it off, what was happening? It was then that I realised that my cage was getting smaller. Alec was trying to lock me down until I was out of touch, not just with my body and senses, but the rest of mind also, including my ability. He was a smart bastard for thinking of that, isolating me in one part of my mind instead of just my mind as a whole. My connection to the blackness was becoming tenuous. Already, the sensory bubble was wavering and contracting. Sorcha was already moving towards them, eagerly awaiting Aro's order. My Leah, buried in agony, could only watch as our kids implored her to get up, crying their little tears. They had abilities that could get them what they wanted, but I knew they were too young and too afraid to reason that out. Had they inherited my weakness along with that? I couldn't know, but it was not for them to act.

It was me or nothing.

As the cage closed around me, like a hand crushing a bug, I reached out to my ability one last time. The sensory bubble was disintegrating as I desperately clawed for it, trying to hold on. Then, the last few sounds translated by the blackness echoed into my mind. It was Chloe.

_Daddy, help us!_

That was all it took. Like a foot wedged in a door to stop it closing, I brought a halt to Alec's insidious attempt to lobotomise me. Then, I swung it open. The blackness exploded. Alec wrenched his neck as he tried to push back against it. The pressure kept building. Alec tried to hold on, but he was trying to put down a mini-nuclear blast with a fire blanket. It continued to intensify as the numbing fog began to lift away from me. Jane turned to face me just in time to watch the lid blow off.

It was an expanding shockwave of pressure, and _flame_.

Edward had warned everyone on our side to lie flat as the blast wave washed clean over them. The guard members who had held my arms had not heeded the warning in time, neither had Alec. I stood among the ashes of the two men, nothing remained of them which was understandable given their proximity. It took but a moment to locate Alec, or his pieces. His limbs, parts of his torso, and his head were scattered in a rough line in the direction of Aro and Jane. They were all smouldering, but a quick thought amplified the embers to flames. As his severed head caught fire but a few meters from her feet, Jane screamed viscerally. She fell to her knees roaring as her brother disappeared into ashes before her. I didn't care. It was only fitting. She had taken my sister away from me in the same fashion. She had made her suffer in death. She deserved nothing less. She was lucky that Alec's death had been instantaneous.

The shockwave had also knocked out a few of the guard members surrounding the Cullens, Denalis, and the Quileutes. I sent out the blackness in the form of a bolt of energy to the nearest survivor. It passed through him and on to the next and the next until all of them were linked as though entwined by conductive wire. With a single thought, I sent the mind fire raging along it. One after the other, they exploded into their own private infernos and dropped to the ground as piles of smoking ash. Everyone stood then. The Quileutes went wolf all at once and snarled their defiance. Jane was still wailing on her knees. No one had any pity for her, not even her master. Aro bared his teeth in anger and disgust at the loss of Alec and at Jane's pitiful display of grief. He was raging at that moment but soon enough, he'd find that macabre cool of his and then people would suffer. He still had hostages, so I had to act fast.

I shouted. "Leah, Bella, _run!_"

Neither needed to be told twice. Sorcha immediately tried to stop Bella rising, but I smacked her square in the face with a solid ball of blackness that sent her careening through the ranks of the Guard, bowling them all over. Bella picked Renesmee up in her arms and ran towards me. Leah, being closer was much ahead, but Felix and another vampire, I believed his name was Santiago, were moving to intercept. She hadn't gone wolf. She'd just picked up the kids and ran. Santiago almost laid a hand on her, but I managed to raise a solid barrier between them that he crumpled against. Felix re-directed smoothly and tried to make a grab at Bella. Leah and the twins had safely made it behind our lines, and Esme was already fussing over them, making sure they were unhurt. I smiled at Leah as our eyes met, feeling so incredibly relieved.

It was only for a moment, for then I had to do what I promised Edward I would.

I shot into the no-man's land between the two sides. Bella had already deftly avoided Felix once, but she would not manage it again with Renesmee in her arms. Santiago was back on his feet, too. Edward and Jacob were moving forward to support me, as were the others, but everyone froze to watch what happened next. I interposed myself between Bella and Felix. She kept going, and Edward and Jacob moved out to meet her. Santiago tried to intervene, but Jacob's jaws ripped into his torso as Edward removed his head. Without turning, I set the remains alight.

Felix faced me down.

He didn't seem to care about my ability, there was no way he'd back down first. He tried to make a swipe at me, which I dodged. A second swipe with his other arm meant to catch me as I avoided the other might have been successful had I not had his arm in the grip of the blackness. He tried to pull away, but I would not allow it. As he struggled, I placed a hand to his chest and allowed the blackness in the form of micro-tendrils to spread through the pores in his vampire flesh. I started to fill out his entire body until he was forced completely rigid. His eyes rolled, his mouth agape. I then spread my fingers outward, directing the blackness to expand. The pores spread, joining. His skin began to crack and flake away. His eyes bulged, and his tongue lolled. His hair fell from his head, as his body seemed to balloon. The larger pores began to join to his lungs, and his chest cavity began to crack open. Finally, his limbs fell away and his head detached as he crumbled to a pile of broken body parts. I didn't even give him a moment to reassemble. Flames engulfed him.

Aro looked to be having a fit as I eyed him with a malicious grin on my face. I could sense Carlisle tending to Renesmee behind me. Aro had been right about one thing; she healed quickly with the burns already cleared.

It was then that Sorcha stepped forward.

She joined me in the no-man's land. Face to face, barely ten feet apart, we regarded each other coldly. Aro had been about to say something, give an order perhaps, but he seemed driven by morbid curiosity to see how this duel would play out. Sorcha said, "So, Jason, you plan to teach me some humility again?"

"No, I'm going to kill you." I said flatly.

She twitched again and said half-smiling in a crazed sort of way, "I think you'll find it harder this time, dear cousin."

"I doubt that."

"Hmm, well then, let us begin."

She flicked her hands open and two balls of incandescent white fire appeared in her palms. They expanded from there around her until she had a dome of superheated air surrounding her and expanding in my direction. I mimicked her attack. I formed the blackness into an expanding bubble with a heated outer surface. As it passed over the ground, the leaf litter flashed alight as it slowly crept onward. We met in the middle, but something was wrong. The last time Sorcha had attacked me, the plume of hot air she created simply passed around my barrier. This time, however, my own barrier was stopped up against the plume and was starting to be pushed back. I realised then it wasn't so much a plume this time but a broad beam. She was concentrating so much energy in my direction that the air became a rush of nuclear-hot plasma that was striking my barrier with enough force to buckle it. I shunted all my strength into the barrier to hold it and try to push back. Sorcha was smarter than I gave her credit for. She'd obviously been working with her ability, even if it was under Aro's direction. I had almost gained the upper hand in this shoving match when I felt pain strike like a knife between the eyes. I fell onto one knee and my barrier crumpled inwards, Sorcha's heat beam almost reaching me.

I then locked eyes with Jane.

She looked dishevelled but her face was a perfect contortion of absolute rage and a desire for vengeance. The pain struck again. I could only hold the barrier to my skin so the beam washed around me. Several of our group had to launch themselves sideways as the beam cut through their ranks into the forest beyond. I could probably hold like that for a while but not forever. I couldn't see a way out of this two-pronged attack unless someone else intervened.

Then, everyone's attention was drawn to the far side of the clearing between the two opposing forces. Marcus stepped into the battlefield, but he was not alone. Demetri was at his side, but I sensed more vampires waiting out of view amongst the trees. Jane ceased her assault, but Sorcha kept me enveloped. I could have burst out of beam right then, but I pretended to still be struggling. If anything, she'd believe she was beating me, and I wanted to know whom Marcus had brought with him. I produced a sensory bubble and expanded it into the forest. It was hard to discern their exact shapes but numbers was easy enough. Marcus had brought an additional fifty vampires with him, bringing the total close to two hundred. Assuming I defeated Sorcha, even with Bella and myself and our abilities, two hundred adversaries might be too tall an order. Some of us would certainly die in the ensuing battle, and I still had to keep my family safe.

None of us were out of danger yet. It all depended on what happened next.

Aro's expression turned joyful, and he went out to meet his fellow leader. As I watched, I noticed Demetri stayed back but more interestingly the difference in Marcus's appearance since last we met. Instead of the flowing, regal robes he once wore, he had donned a modern-looking black suit with an austere cut. His hair, too, was thinned out and tied back severely, revealing the full breadth of his forehead. He looked like a man with purpose, not the dour figure he had been. Aro had extended his hand and Marcus shook it in what looked like an overly firm grip. He smiled, too, but it was like ice. Aro seemed not to notice. He said, "Brother, welcome, you have been missed in Volterra."

"I'm sure I have."

"You took a much longer sojourn than you had intended, and my sources tell me you travelled far and wide."

"I required the time, and the distance."

"Of course, after millennia of dedication, why wouldn't you? Well, as it happens, the timing of your return could not have been more opportune. We have suffered some terrible losses this day, brother, but together, we can put down this burgeoning rebellion against our rule."

"Rebels, you say?"

"Yes, brother, yes, and I see you brought reinforcements. Have them join our ranks and let us end this once and for all."

"As you wish."

I felt a terrible fear as Marcus gave the order for his battalion to reveal themselves. I would have to give my all just to protect Leah and kids from those kinds of numbers. I would not be able to spare myself for anyone else. Would I have to run with them again, this time on foot and with Demetri's return, we would always be running. There would be nowhere on Earth we could hide. The first few individuals were not anyone I recognised, but the Cullens and Denalis seemed to. I was confused momentarily as the newcomers started filing towards _our _side. However, then I heard Jasper greet Peter and Charlotte. Carlisle welcomed Benjamin and Tia. Then came Randall and Mary, the whole Amazon coven, even Alistair and the Romanians. Last but not least, Siobhan. Maggie, and Liam entered the clearing and greeted Carlisle before being warmly welcomed by Fiona and Dermot.

Aro was so stunned that his face was almost comical.

The remaining vampires were no one that we knew, but they joined our ranks. The final straw for Aro was when Demetri looked at his former master with revulsion and turned to join the opposing side. Aro turned to his brother and said, "_Marcus!_ What is this travesty? This is not a game."

"No," he replied, "This is my revenge."

With those words, he struck Aro straight into the base of his chin with an uppercut that sent his brother flailing high into the air before landing unceremoniously amongst his Guard. As he struggled back onto his feet, Marcus said, "That was for Didyme."

He then turned his back on Aro and marched towards our ranks. Carlisle came forth to meet him with an uncharacteristically sceptical look on his face. Marcus said, "I and my associates are at your disposal, Carlisle. Do with us what you wish."

Carlisle nodded, still dubious; I supposed he couldn't be blamed. Marcus simply went and stood with Demetri, facing their former coven. In that moment, I chose to strike back. I burst the path of the beam with an explosive shockwave that caught Sorcha off guard. Jane, too, was hurtled into the air before her body neatly wrapped around a tree trunk before plummeting to the ground. Sorcha maintained the beam, but I had the upper hand this time. I pushed forward both bodily and with the blackness. As I closed the space between us, I doubled and redoubled the density of the blackness so that it absorbed or deflected the majority of the energy Sorcha was throwing at me. It was starting to reflect back on her. Of course, she was immune to the heat, but the pressure it exerted was starting to overcome her. Right then, I chose to tear the fabric of the blackness behind me, spread the whole bubble flat like a sheet of paper, and then recoil it around Sorcha. She was trapped and just as Alec had done to me, I began to shrink her cage. It closed in. Eventually, there wasn't enough air left to support Sorcha's beam. It closed to her skin. She pounded at it until there wasn't enough room to move her arms. I then brought one arm backward and shot the other forward, gesturing for the bubble to spin. As it began to gather momentum, Sorcha screamed and shouted obscenities that were barely audible through the bubble. The torque increased as her form became blurred. She stopped screaming. The spin was so fast that it kicked up a gale around it like a mini-tornado that carried the ashes and dirt into the vortex. I could feel the outline of Sorcha's body within the bubble. The rotation was enough to crack her vampiric flesh, and I felt them spreading. It was at that moment that I brought my hands together and ripped them apart in a lightning fast motion.

The twister exploded, scattering bits of Sorcha across the no-man's land.

With another gesture of my hand, I confirmed that Sorcha would burn when dismembered. I then calmed the flames with a descending blanket of blackness and took a few steps back into the ranks of my family, friends, and allies. Bella and Benjamin stepped forward to flank me on either side. I sensed it as Bella put out her shield to protect us. Benjamin lit two fires in his palms spontaneously whilst setting a few trees near the Volturi on fire for show. Behind us, all our family and friends had formed up. To our right, the Quileutes were posturing for a counter-strike. To our left, Marcus and his entourage were readying for an attack, also. Leah, the twins, and Renesmee were safely behind our lines. Then, Carlisle stepped out from between us and faced Aro with a falsely genial smile. He did not speak. He just waited. That really irritated Aro, leaving him to make the first move. I could see him evaluating the situation, not bothering to even glance in Caius's direction. He still had us outnumbered, but not by a comfortable margin, and he had lost perhaps his most powerful weapons in Alec and Sorcha along with Felix, Santiago, and the majority of his stronger guard members. Most of the mercenaries he had with him were not nearly as good quality fighters as those he had lost. To add the cherry on the cake, with Bella in play, Jane was effectively useless. He might win with a brute force attack with greater numbers, but the odds were against him. In all likelihood, he would lose the day. So, he must have decided to cut his losses as he said, "Carlisle, perhaps we can discuss this issue as we once did, in a civilised manner."

Carlisle's smile grew and he replied, "I agree, Aro, and in that spirit, I put this to you; shall you leave our home peaceably and immediately, or will you make the unfortunate choice to fight us all?"

I grinned widely and on the verge of snickering. It was an expression shared by many amongst us. The Denali sisters seemed especially pleased by what was said given their losses to the Volturi in the past. Aro scowled in humiliation, but his options were limited, and this was the only one where he got away cleanly. Caius said, "Aro, we must put this rebellion down or…"

"_Silence_, brother." Caius looked like he'd been slapped, and I almost thought that I heard Emmett make a "trouble-in-paradise" joke to Dermot. Aro said, "My friends, we do not fight today. We must depart and regroup." The non-guard members quickly zoomed off, obviously shaken by what had transpired. Aro lagged behind and said, "I will not soon forget this, Carlisle."

He replied, "I have no doubt of that. We'll be right here waiting for you when you 'regroup'."

Aro gave a final grimace before rejoining his retreating coven. With that, everyone laughed, cried, breathed in relief, and whooped and shouted for joy. Edward met me as I moved back through the crowd. He hugged me really tightly, a hug almost worthy of Emmett, and said, "Thank you, Jason. I owe you everything."

"That's what family does, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is. Speaking of which, I'm keeping you from yours."

"Likewise."

"Later, we must talk about your internal battle with the blackness. It was interesting to sense."

"I promise you can psychoanalyse me all you want later."

He grinned and went to embrace his wife and daughter. I did not know how many thank yous and compliments I had to accept before I reached my Leah. Emmett was playing with Chloe and Seth with Harry. They were so happy and full of joy that it was hard to believe the ordeal they'd been through just minutes before. Leah's and my arms found each other. We drew together and kissed like we would never get to again. Her warmth permeated through me. I never wanted to be away from her. The future was still uncertain but as we embraced under the noon sun of the equinox, and thousands of sunbeams were fractured into kaleidoscopes of colour, we didn't care, for tomorrow was for tomorrow, and the two of us still held forever.


	13. Epilogue - Stalemate

**EPILOGUE – STALEMATE**

Carlisle still seemed rather discomfited by Marcus's presence, especially inside his home. The fact that Demetri also hovered nearby, eyeing everything with a somewhat amused expression, did not help the situation.

As soon as we'd confirmed that Aro and his goon squad had definitely retreated and ended their siege, we all retired to the house. The Cullens' friends were eager to catch up after many years without direct contact. Carlisle had offered his condolences to Benjamin and Tia for the loss of Amun and Kebi. I felt some guilt in that respect for they had died at Sorcha's hands, though I reassured myself that they would have met their ends at the hands of the Volturi in some shape or form regardless. Besides, while the two of them accepted the gesture, they assured us that there was no need to concern ourselves. Their coven was not like our own.

Renesmee was thrilled to see Zafrina and the other Amazons. I couldn't imagine why, though. The two seemed like very mismatched friends and to be honest, the Amazons' wild appearances and behaviour were more than a little disturbing. Edward then explained what Zafrina could do, and then it made a little more sense. The two of them could entertain each other endlessly, swapping images, which was exactly what they'd started doing, their own unique way of playing catch-up.

Jasper and Alice were happy to see that Peter and Charlotte were safe after their near miss with Aro's mercenaries. I found out that Jasper's friends had known each other as newborns, having been created by the same vampire, a woman named Maria, during the Southern Vampire Wars. Apparently, she was still alive. Along with her creations, she was one of the few vampires to survive that conflict. None of the three of them had any good memories of that time or their experiences with Maria. Nevertheless, though they had resisted contacting her when the Volturi came the first time around, they all knew what was coming might require them to set aside old grudges.

Carlisle welcomed the other nomads, Mary and Randall, who had travelled together since the Volturi last came. He nodded to the Romanians who had not been invited the first time, and I sensed they might have been skipped over this time as well had we not been so desperate. As it was, Marcus had been uncomfortable contacting them. He gritted his teeth and did so merely to stick it to Aro. Understanding of Carlisle's feelings on the two vampires came easily enough. Vladimir said, "Well, I was rather disappointed. It would have been quite a fight."

Stefan added, "Especially considering we had the upper hand on the abilities standpoint, you should have ended it today, Carlisle. Aro will assure his own survival like any good rat. I doubt such an easy opportunity will come our way again."

Carlisle replied, patiently, "Our victory was hardly guaranteed, Stefan. We were outnumbered. Even with what abilities we have, it could have gone either way."

"But the latest member of your coven, the boy over there, he could have burned Aro and Caius where they stood. That alone would have shattered the morale and will of the Guard."

"More likely they would have sought to avenge their masters. Besides, they still have Jane, and Jason is as vulnerable to her as any of us. She would most certainly have gone out of her way to stop him, especially seeing as he killed her brother."

"Perhaps, but you must now accept, Carlisle, that this will inevitably come to a fight, on the scale of all out war."

"For once, we can agree."

I did not appreciate being labelled "the boy", especially by someone shorter than me, but Marcus distracted me from that thought. He said, "You have no idea of what scale we're talking about."

Carlisle and the others turned to him. Everyone stopped speaking. He said, "Care to elaborate on that, Marcus?"

"Certainly, I imagine Aro is quite desperate right now, probably pacing the floor back in Volterra, which he will do until he wears his footprints into the marble. After he is done moping, he will come to one conclusion. He must initiate the _plan_."

"What plan?"

"For _Discrimine_."

Emmett asked, "What does that mean?"

Carlisle replied, "It means 'The Crisis'."

Marcus continued, "The plan is a spoken agreement between myself, Aro, and Caius which only ourselves and senior members of the Guard are aware of."

Eleazar said, "I was never briefed on this plan during my time with you."

"We formulated it some time after you left. The Volturi have existed as a coven for millennia and have been the ruling coven for more than fifteen hundred years. Until recent centuries, we never contemplated a threat to our existence coming from any direction but our kin and even then, we were confident in our ability to face any such challenge. However, as the humans have continued their unfettered technological advancement, we had to consider that they would one day be able to discover us, perhaps even destroy us. That fear became reality as we watched the humans engage in their epic wars of the twentieth century. It was then we started discussing countermeasures should vampire-kind's existence be revealed and if the humans mounted a hostile response. We agreed upon a course of action to follow some decades ago, even as it seemed we could indeed remain hidden from humanity despite their unending progress. It was six years ago that we realised there was another threat to consider."

Carlisle simply said, "_Us_."

Marcus nodded and said, "Aro became quite obsessed with the possibility that you specifically, Carlisle, would attempt to overthrow him to protect your interests. He had already seen you raise quite a large army to support you, and the abilities you possessed among your coven and allies disturbed him even then."

"Aro knows raising an army was not my intent."

"He has never seen it that way. He believes you deceitful and power-hungry."

"Then he is deluded."

"Quite, but that changes nothing. He will immediately bring all elements of the plan into effect."

"What does this plan consist of?"

"In simplest terms, it is a revocation of all laws governing our kind until such a time as a potential threat is eliminated."

Esme asked, "Why would Aro ever allow such a thing?"

"To secure his power, or at the very least to ensure his survival. From here on out, it will be allowable to raise newborn armies, vast armies, irrespective of the risk that poses to our secrecy. Existing vampires will be given the right to join the Guard regardless of their status or whether or not they possess abilities. Those who do not volunteer to join the campaign will be conscripted by force and made into foot soldiers."

Tanya said, "You mean cannon fodder."

"That term is more fitting, yes."

Kate asked, "But surely the law about Immortal Children still stands? They cannot be controlled or used effectively." I looked to Marcus, very interested in his answer.

He replied, "No, it is revoked along with the others. Aro has even theorised about how these children might be used as weapons."

"What?" Kate exclaimed. Tanya looked incensed.

"He believes that despite their unreliability as fighters, if they are introduced into the battlefield then they may serve to distract you. He knows how moral you all are, how close you are to the humans, and he knows of all your histories, too. He will not hesitate to create them purely to use as a form of psychological warfare."

Everyone was profoundly disturbed. This was looking so much worse than anyone had anticipated. Carlisle grimaced and said, "What will Aro do in the near term? What should we prepare for?"

"He will not return here for some time. He will first organise the covens and nomads he knows he can trust. He will then reach out to others and subdue those that refuse him. Any who even consider joining our side will be destroyed immediately. He will then task his knew expanded Guard to raise an army of newborns, organise them, and keep them disciplined. He will also search among them for new abilities that might be of use in a fight. Only then will he move against you and even at that, he will start with smaller incursions, hit-and-runs. He will not commit his main force until he can be absolutely certain of victory."

Everyone was silent. It seemed as though Aro would bring overwhelming force to bear against us. We could not win. Alistair got to his feet and made for the door. Carlisle said, "And where are you going?"

"You know where, Carlisle, to the nearest rock big enough to hide under. This battle is hopeless. I didn't even come here willingly, you know. I almost got away, too, only for Marcus having enough thugs to surround me with."

Demetri said, "You were a fool to think you could escape with your limited tracking abilities. I always knew where you were and had it only been me chasing you, you could always have stayed ahead. You were just paying too much attention to getting away from me to look in front of you."

Unexpectedly, Fiona stepped forward and said, "And where will you go, you foolish man? You return home and Aro will scour the whole country looking for you, and he'll have the numbers to do it. Either you will be killed immediately for being a friend of Carlisle's, or you will be forced into servitude, and then killed later. At least if you stay, you may die with a shred of dignity to your name."

Alistair looked flummoxed and was totally speechless. Eventually, he just dipped his head and stood there, but his eyes drifted over to Fiona every few moments as she scorned him with hers. Clearly, no woman had ever spoken to him like that before. Carlisle withheld a smile and said, "Well, we now know what we face, and I understand if some of you feel similarly to Alistair. I am not Aro, and I will not try to make you stay. However, I guarantee you won't be safe if you leave this place, none of us will, not if we go it alone. Our best chance is to confront him together. Aro is going to extreme lengths to quash the threat his paranoia has made of us. We have no interest in his seat of power, no matter what he thinks, but we will defend ourselves from his aggression."

Siobhan stepped forward and said, "What do you propose we do?"

"We need to formulate our own plan for starters. I will, however, not abandon the laws that we have always abided by so offhandedly. We will not force humans into this life to increase our numbers. We will not use what power we have to coerce others of our kind into joining our ranks, and we will _not_ turn children. We will retain some decency and honour in this fight. We should begin by reaching out to anyone who will side with us. Jasper, I'm sorry, but if Maria and the Mexican Coven will join us, it'll be a huge boost. It may convince others in this part of the world to help."

Jasper nodded solemnly and said, "Peter and I will see about contacting her." Alice looked like she'd swallowed something foul, as did Charlotte to a lesser degree.

Marcus stood then and said, "I must return to Europe. Aro will need time to organise his forces, and I plan to draw as many covens and nomads as I can to this side of the Atlantic before he can properly mobilise."

Carlisle said, "That's a very risky venture, Marcus. Aro will surely try to apprehend you at the earliest opportunity."

"And how will he know where to find me? I have his favourite bloodhound in tow. No offence intended, Demetri."

"None taken, I think anyhow."

"Besides," Marcus said to Carlisle, "The numbers you'll need can only be found in the Old World. The population of vampires in the Americas is rather sparse. I intend to visit some of the African and Asian covens, also."

Carlisle nodded and said, "Good luck then."

"I will bring some of my associates for protection. Charles and Makenna will keep the others in line and liaise with you on my behalf."

"Did they not witness for you the last time the Volturi came?"

"And if you recall, Charles sensed Aro's deceit. He may not be perfect, but he can be trusted not to side with the enemy."

"Very well."

"Until I return then."

As soon as the two of them had left, Carlisle asked Edward, "Well, what did you make of them?"

"If you're asking if this is some kind of ruse then the answer is no. Marcus made no effort to conceal his thoughts from me. He may not show it as much on the surface, but he is indescribably angry. He's coming to terms with knowing his brother, the man he has sat beside and ruled with for centuries, killed his mate. He thinks of very little but killing Aro with his bare hands. He will stop at nothing to achieve that goal."

"Which may mean he'll be willing to take greater risks and make greater sacrifices than we would, that may be a problem later on."

Edward nodded his agreement and said, "My main concern is Demetri. He's a lot less committed to this cause. He's allowed himself to be roped along by Marcus simply out of interest of what he might turn up and whether or not Aro can actually be overthrown. His little act in the clearing was just that. I sensed his anxiousness about the choice he's made. He doesn't want to involve himself in a hopeless war, so he may eventually desert us if things really start to go downhill. My opinion is he can't be trusted. He knows, too, that Aro values him greatly, so if he was given an out by him, I can't say for certain that he wouldn't take it."

"That is unfortunate. We will need to keep a close eye on him then, and perhaps inform Marcus in due course."

"Maybe, but Marcus is quite volatile right now. There's no telling how he'll react to cowardice or disloyalty in his associates as he calls them."

"Then we can hold off. Well it's time to start exchanging notes everyone. _We_ have all our friends here, but we need to talk to our friends' friends and their friends and so on so forth. So, if there's anyone you know or even know of, we need to know them, too. We have to ask everyone we can to stand with us. I doubt there'll be any neutral parties in this battle. Our whole species will be involved. That means whoever wins will define the future of our kind forever, and I intend for it to be us. Let's get started everyone. Once we have names and places, our real work will begin."

The next day, the business of tracking down almost every vampire in the Western Hemisphere had begun. Most of us travelled out in every direction from Forks to find potential allies and sound our call to arms. I was left behind to hold down the fort. I didn't expect Carlisle to want me to separate from Leah and the twins, not after everything. Esme, Bella, Fiona, Dermot, Alistair, and Renesmee remained behind, too, along with Makenna who kept her distance.

I found Alistair hilarious.

He seemed to have recovered from Fiona's browbeating the previous night and believed foolishly that he could then make good his escape. No sooner had he left the house than Fiona had intercepted him and slapped him over the back of the head before shoving him inside. She seemed able to use her ability to track him back, which was unusual given she normally needed time to form that strong a connection with someone. He tried a few more times, and I was beginning to think he actually wanted her to catch him. He certainly didn't seem unhappy when she appeared out of the blue before him, insisting on calling him a foolish man as though it were a novelty to be talked to as such by a woman.

Our reunion with the Irish Coven had been emotional but necessarily brief. We'd all gotten together in semi-private just before they were due to depart to help locate other vampires to join the fight. Fiona, Dermot, and myself were happy to be back with our friends from home, and they were just happy that we were okay. Siobhan feared the worst for Fiona when Aro had discovered her through Sorcha, but that Aro showed little interest in her came as a surprise. She understood, though, why he mightn't want her among the Volturi. She would always see his lies. Chelsea would not be able to bind her to the coven emotionally, and Corin would not be able to make her feel content with her circumstances. She would see through such trickery just as she had with Carina's illusions. Not only that but she would be able to remove their influence from others. She would be a malady in Aro's body of lies. After that, there was nothing important left unsaid. Dermot did ask if Siobhan had heard from Isolde since he'd left, but there had been no word from her. He hoped that Marcus would enlist her with the other Europeans he was bringing over.

I found Leah sitting in the front garden in a light summer dress just as I had before the Volturi came. She was watching the twins but this time, Renesmee was playing with them, a game of hide and seek that wasn't limited to the forest floor. Bella was there, too, still shaken from the events that had transpired but fiercely determined. She wanted to personally rip Aro's head off for what he'd done to her daughter. I could tell she was tense even as she chatted with Leah about the "joys" of having children. She'd wanted to do something, anything, but Edward convinced her to stay home, at least for the time being. In the end, she saw that one of them should be there for Renesmee. She had the emotional resilience of a child most of the time, shouting and running around with the twins without a care, but she was on the verge of maturing, and what happened would stay with her. Bella was always there as a shoulder to cry on. Jacob was around, too, but he was busy with the packs, trying to organise the tribe, and preparing contingencies for a worst-case scenario. As I approached, Bella stood and said, "Hey, Jason."

"Hey, Bella."

She drew me into a hug and said, "Thank you."

"Bella, we're family, you don't have to keep thanking me."

"I do, believe me, I do. I'm going to check up on the kids. They've gotten a little too high up for my liking."

At that point, she said bye to Leah and disappeared into the trees after the kids. The sun broke through a cloud that had scudded past. Today was to be the last good day in Forks before the natural order reasserted itself. A storm was due to blow in off the ocean tomorrow. The irony was lost on no one. I sat myself down beside Leah. She wrapped her arms around mine and laid her head on my shoulder. She said, "She's right, you know. There's never enough thanks for saving someone's child, even if we all live forever, and she's not the only one who's grateful. You made all the difference, Jason. If it weren't for you, none of us would be here right now. I certainly wouldn't, and neither would our children. I love you."

"I love you, too, my Leah, more than anything. I'm always going to keep us safe, forever. I won't let anyone hurt you or the kids."

"I know."

I was so mad to see her so troubled, all because of the insane workings of one man. This was supposed to be a special time, a time when a new family finds itself and grows. It is supposed to be a time for love, for joy, for looking to the future. Instead, because of the Volturi, it has been filled with fear and loathing. They had tried to steal this precious time and for that, I would make them _pay_!

I let the anger pass as I watched the emotions play across my Leah's face. I almost didn't say it. I was happy just sitting with her there on the lawn, watching the kids play on this perfect day, but that was nerves. A bigger part of me wanted to say this. "You know I've been meaning to ask you something. I haven't been thinking about it long, only since the Volturi left."

"Oh?"

"And given everything that's happening, maybe it's stupid, and maybe it's too soon but…"

"Yes?"

Just then, Chloe appeared out of nowhere before us followed by Harry. It seemed as though they'd gotten faster in the last few days. Bella and Renesmee were just strolling back from the forest. Chloe sat on my lap and said, "Well, daddy, aren't you going to ask?"

"Ask what, sweetheart?"

"The thing you were going to ask mommy. Alice already told me about it. She said you needed to be pushed otherwise you'd get all nervous.'

"Did she?"

"Ahuh, so, mommy, daddy wants to know will you marry him."

Leah half gasped and her jaw dropped. She looked to me for confirmation, but I was too nervous to give it to her. She must have known by me that it was the truth. I thought she was trying to speak, but I didn't know whether it was to answer or to deflect the question. She didn't get a chance to do the latter because Chloe folded her arms across her chest, turned to her, and said as though the answer should be obvious, "Mommy, _say yes_."

She was silent for one more excruciating moment before she took my face in her hands and drew me into a kiss. I supposed I had my answer.


End file.
